The general pathology of syphilis / by F.W. Andrewes.

  • Andrewes, Frederick W. (Frederick William), Sir, 1859-1932.
Date:
1908
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The general pathology of syphilis / by F.W. Andrewes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    by simian inoculation have probably proved the more fruitful in direct positive advances in our knowledge. The inoculability is a tangible fact which cannot be gainsaid. It has already afforded the means for tracing the generalization of the syphilitic virus throughout the body, and has in many ways corrected the crude data which had been derived from clinical observation ; it makes it possible to distinguish between a cured and a latent case of the disease, while the problems of immunity can for the first time be approached by those modern methods which have proved of such value in the case of other infections. We have, too, a criterion by which the reality of the alleged successful results of syphilitic inoculation upon other animals can be judged. The discovery of the spirochaete may, it is true, in the long run, prove the more important, but at present there are certain limitations to its value some of which must remain until it has been found possible to cultivate the organism. So far it fulfils only the first of Koch’s postulates, but it does this very fully. The technique of its demonstration is often difficult and uncertain, though less so with experience; nevertheless, the inoculation of apes appears at present a more certain test as to the syphilitic nature of any given material than the presence or absence of demonstrable parasites. The evidence connecting the Spirochaete pallida with syphilis is fully discussed in another section of this work[Vol. I, p. 95-101.] While I accept it as in all probability the causal agent, I shall endeavour, in this article on the general pathology of syphilis, to confine myself as far as possible to such facts as would remain true even should it be proved that the spirochaete was not the cause of the disease. Though I shall frequently have to refer to the spiro- chaete, I shall, wherever possible, use the term c syphilitic virus 7 he Properties of the Syphilitic Virus. Syphilis has always been recognized as a ‘ contagious ’ disease in the strict sense, i.e. one which spreads by direct infection only. The reason for this is clear : it depends upon the very low resistance of the virus outside the human body. Tested by inoculation upon apes, it remains efficacious only up to six hours after its removal from the body. It is destroyed by heating for an hour to 51° C. Hence it is that syphilis is so rarely conveyed indirectly. Where a cup SYPHILIS I T