A treatise on syphilis in new-born children and infants at the breast / by P. Diday ; translated by G. Whitley.

  • Charles-Paul Diday
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on syphilis in new-born children and infants at the breast / by P. Diday ; translated by G. Whitley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    INTRODUCTION. questions^ to rely by preference upon the experience of the older M'l-iters, who, unfettered by the systematic preoccupations of our peiiod, relate sini])ly what they have seen, and not what has been taught them. 'Ihus to defend the rights of observation against the pretensions of theory is the duty of every cidtivator of medical science, and one uhich the practice of our art furnishes us only too many opportunities of fidfilling. But the obligation becomes more impelative and saered when, as in the case of congenital syphili.s, the usurpations of imagination over reality reveal themselves in the foim of irreparable injuries to tlie health, the lives, and the honour of individuals, families, and nations. A man has just been cured of syphilis : how soon can he procreate safely ? One, two, three successive pregnancies have terminated before the full time iu the expulsion of an atrophied and, as it were, blighted foetus. Is this a sign of venereal disease in the mother—a sufficient reason for subjecting her to specific treatment ? A ehild is born covered with characteristie blots. Can we, without scruple, give it to a healthy woman to suckle ? A nui’se, previously robust and free from any venereal antecedents, presents ulcerations on the breasts having some resemblance to chancres. One school affirms that they are primary, and cannot be anything else. Must we accept its dictum, and deny that they may have resulted from suckling a syphihtic child, abstaining, consequently, from giving mercury to this woman? These are some of the hundred questions which practice daily evokes. But to these problems, which ask for and com- mand an exact solution, experience often answers in tlie affirmative —a given doctrine in the negative. It is not surprising, then, that when it becomes necessary to ehoose betiveen two such advisers, our choice is always made in favour of the fact against the pretended right. We may take pleasure in the spectacle of the human mind labouring to develop its synthetic creations; we may ourselves sometimes yield to temptation, and risk some steps on this path. But, in the face of dangers so grave, the interest of a system pales before that of humanity: positivism is no longer the mere desire of the philosojiher, it rises to the rank of a social necessity, and everything must be placed in subordination to its laws. Such, at least, is my opinion; such will be my invariable rule of conduct iu the course of this work. To embrace in a complete and methodical classification the
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