there is danger despite the most scientific treatment. It is not the quality of the treatment that is at fault, it is the presence of the germs; and since it is impossible to pursue any certain method of eradication, we must continue treatment—as long as the germs are present—and hope for favorable results. The infection may last for many years. The germs having found entrance into the small tubes in the interior organs they can only be dislodged with difficulty, if at all. These pockets of germs may be excited to renewed activity by sexual intercourse, or by injury to the parts, and may reinfect the patient at any times. In a very considerable number of these cases where the deeper structures are involved, the patient may recover from the acute or painful period of the disease, only to find that he is sterile. There are many such cases, and the most vindictive individual who may believe that every who sins should be punished will admit that sterility, as the price of a moment's forgetfulness, is a terrible fee to pay.

Syphilis, or the "Pox," is an infectious, germ blood disease. It is most frequently acquired through sexual intercourse.

It may be acquired by direct contact with a diseased person. In order to render such contact effective, it is essential that the skin of the healthy person be abraded, or the contact may be directly on a mucous membrane, as the mouth in the act of kissing.

It may be acquired by using any article which has been used by a syphilitic, as a drinking cup, or towel.

It may be acquired through hereditary transmission.

Surgeons frequently contract syphilis while operating on, or examining patients who have the disease. Dentists may convey it by means of instruments which have not been rendered aseptic, or thoroughly clean. Using a towel which has been used by a syphilitic has many times conveyed the infection to an innocent party. For this reason the roller towel has been done away with, and some states have legislated against its use in hotels and other public places. To use dishes, spoons, tobacco pipe, beer glasses, etc., which have been used by one having the disease is an absolutely certain way of being infected. Cigars which may have been made by a syphilitic will infect whoever smokes them with the virus of the disease. Syphilis has been known to have been caught from using the church communion cup. The public drinking-cup has been a prolific source of syphilitic dissemination to innocents. Legislators are just waking up to the danger that lurks in this institution and it will no doubt be done away with, not only in public places, but on all railroad and steamboat lines.

An infected mother can transmit syphilis to her child. If the father is affected, but not the wife, the child may escape.

Syphilis attacks every organ in the human body. The actual degree of infection has no relation to the size or character of the external manifestations. The external evidence may be minute and insignificant, while the internal extent and ravages of the disease may be tremendous and of large proportions. Many men when asked regarding incidents of the long ago, may state, "Oh, yes, I had a chancre twenty-five years ago, but it was a very small affair and soon healed up and was cured." Yet that same little chancre, that made only a mild impression on the man's mind, may, and most probably will, be the direct cause of that man's death.

It is not possible to tell with absolute certainty that an individual is suffering with syphilis by any known test. The most recent one—the Wassermann test—is not absolute by any means.

The first symptoms, or what is known as the initial lesion of syphilis, is the chancre.

The Chancre is a small, hard tumor, or it may be a small ulcer with a hard base, or it may simply appear as a thin small patch on any mucous membrane. It is not painful, it can be moved if taken between the fingers, showing it is not attached to the deep structures, and when it is so moved it is not tender or sore. Any little lump which ulcerates located on the genitals must be regarded with suspicion. Boys and men should not be satisfied with any offhand statement that, "it is nothing." It may be a chancre, and it may be exceedingly serious if not properly diagnosed.

Systemic, or constitutional symptoms, begin to show themselves any time from the sixth to the tenth week after the appearance of the chancre.

Eruptions of the Skin characterize every case of syphilis. They occur in all degrees from the mild rash to the foul ulcer. The ulcerative process is very often extensive and loathsome.

Mucous Patches and Ulcers affect the mucous membranes. The mouth and throat are favorite locations for these lesions. They occur in the anus and rectum, and may be mistaken in that region for other serious conditions. Men who drink and smoke suffer as a rule severely from mucous patches in the mouth and throat.

Syphilis attacks the blood vessels and the lymphatic glands. These cases may have been unrecognized, and may have existed for many years. A man may die from a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain during middle life as a consequence of a forgotten, supposedly cured case of syphilis many years before.

The Interior Organs may be attacked by syphilis. As a result we get disease of the liver, heart, stomach, kidneys, lungs, and other parts. It has been suggested that many diseases affecting these organs, for which treatment proves unsatisfactory, may have had their origin in a former syphilis.

The Brain and Spinal Cord are quite often the seat of syphilitic affections. A tumor, known by the name of "gumma," is the result. The blood vessels of the entire nervous system may be affected and, as a consequence, we often see cases of paralysis, apoplexy, epilepsy, locomotor ataxia and death.

The Nose, Eye, Ear, Throat, are frequently very seriously compromised as a result of the syphilitic poison. Deformity, caused by rotting of the bones of these parts is not infrequent. Loss of voice, or smell, or hearing, or sight, may result.

The Hair and Nails may fall out. The bones may ulcerate and rot. The organs of procreation usually participate in the degenerative process. Virility is destroyed, and impotence is quite common after a severe attack.

WHAT THE BOY WITH VENEREAL DISEASE MAY CAUSE IN OTHERS

Gonorrhea.—When the average boy acquires gonorrhea he frequently does not know, for many weeks, that he is the victim of a dangerous, infectious disease. He appreciates probably, that it relates to the sexual indiscretion he was guilty of, and feels that it is something to be ashamed of. He therefore hides his condition, confides in no one, and blindly hopes it will get better somehow or at some time. Meantime the disease, which may have been mild at the beginning, is gradually gaining ground and strength, and his neglect may eventuate in lifelong misery. No means are taken to guard against spreading the infection, the discharge may lodge on his fingers and he may infect his eyes and may lose his sight because he did not know that the discharge is one of the most dangerous fluids known. It may get on water-closet seats and infect others. Eventually he is compelled to seek aid, and he may, after a long period, be freed from the immediate consequences of his folly. At a later date he marries, and as previously explained, he infects his wife. This is the beginning of much of the domestic infelicity that is so prevalent to-day, and, inasmuch as it is a subject that should be thoroughly understood by every woman and mother, I shall carefully and clearly explain its significance and its consequences.

Let us first, however, briefly consider what may occur to others if the