Five cases of cerebral symptoms in early (secondary) syphilis / by F.B. Greenough.

  • Greenough, Francis Boott.
Date:
1885
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Five cases of cerebral symptoms in early (secondary) syphilis / by F.B. Greenough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    cious.” Heubner states that from his figures, that is, from the statistics derived from the cases ob- served and collated by him, it appears that when a syphilitic growth is developed in the nervous sys- tem such a growth almost invariably appears at a late period ; in fact, when the syphilis has lasted for several, or often many, years. This rule, of course, he savs, is not without exceptions. Prof. H. C. Wood, in an article on the “ Clinical Aspects of Cerebral Syphilis,” 1 gives a very full account of the subject, more especially with reference to the later manifestations, epilepsy and general paralysis. He says, however: “Although syphilis is most prone to attack the nervous system many years after infection, it would be a fatal mistake to sup- pose that brain disease may not rapidly follow a chancre.” Legrand du Saulle, in a series of articles pub- lished in the Gazette des Hdpitanx in 1884 (vol. lvii.) on “ Cerebral Syphilis,” says : “ At what period of the disease do the cerebral symptoms show them- selves? In a general way, it can be said, in the ter- tiary. Ordinarily they show themselves from three to ten years after the primary lesion. But they may be delayed and not appear until after an inter- val of twenty to thirty years. Sometimes, how- ever, in cases of precocious, malignant syphilis, they form part of the secondary symptoms. Not to take up time by more quotations, I will state that the mass of authors on the subject agree with great unanimity on the fact that cerebral syph- ilis is of late development, and that, although there are exceptions, cases which show affection of the nervous centres within the first year are decidedly exceptional. It is this unanimity of opinion that 1 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 18S4, vol. cx., Nos. 9 and 10.