Plain facts on sex hygiene / by William Lee Howard.

  • Howard, William Lee, 1860-1918
Date:
[1927]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Plain facts on sex hygiene / by William Lee Howard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    infection. In the very young syphilitic it is not un¬ common to find tuberculous infection throughout the whole body or in a localised focus. These two infec¬ tions, syphilis and tuberculosis, seem to go hand in hand together in their lethal course, and many observations have been made of tissues in which this symbiosis existed. It seems that syphilitic tissues form a prolific culture held for the bacillus of tuberculosis. So that in all cases we must be on the lookout for this second invasion. As in the very young, so in older life particularly when the lesions are chronic and persistent, and the nutrition is much impaired, we must always remember that this virulent tuberculous complication may have developed. A point of much practical importance is offered by a threapeutical test. If the lesions of the bones and joints or of other organs and tissues show a tendency to cure under antisyphilitic therapy, it is probable that the case is one of inherited syphilis. If, however, under antisyphilitic medication the case hitches or halts, it is well to look further and suspect tuberculosis/' Syphilis and gonorrhea and all their disastrous after-effects, being left uncontrolled and unrecognized by the government, is to have a great economic influence upon the masses ; upon the bank and pocket- book of the man of the people. This neglect of the government to conserve the health and lives of its citizens by paternal control— the only way these matters can be successfully handled —has caused the life insurance companies to commence a radical change in their methods of accepting risks. When there are hundreds of thousands of men, women and babies dying or becoming public wards through preventable venereal diseases, and these death risks are yearly piling up at a rapid rate, I think it is time to shout, “ National murderer ! ” in the Houses of Parlia¬ ment. Every possible way and means have been tried by doctors and magazines to call the attention of our legislators to the facts. But our Members of Parliament
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