Tattooing as a means of communicating syphilis : an investigation of twenty-two cases exposed to inoculation with the virus of mucous patches, in fifteen of which syphilis followed / by F.F. Maury and C.W. Dulles.

  • Maury, F. F. (Francis Fontaine), 1840-1879.
Date:
1878
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tattooing as a means of communicating syphilis : an investigation of twenty-two cases exposed to inoculation with the virus of mucous patches, in fifteen of which syphilis followed / by F.F. Maury and C.W. Dulles. 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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    After the operation was completed, the patient washed his arm carefully with spring water. Since that time he lias had no syphilitic manifesta- tions that he knows of, nor does our examination discover any. Case III.—Samuel F., a young man working in an iron foundry, ex- amined in Reading October 1, gives a good family and personal history. He was tattooed by Kelly in June. The manner was similar to that in the other cases, in which though water was partly used to mix the pig- ments, the needles were often put by Kelly into his mouth. Since that time there has been no syphilitic manifestation whatever, so far as his history or our examination can discover. Case IV—Joseph C.,a?t. 37, Am., labourer, examined in the Philadel- phia Hospital October 10. Five years ago had a chancre appearing about two weeks after exposure, and followed by a suppurating bubo in each groin. These burst. Afterwards he had, so far as his memory serves him, no cutaneous eruption, nor any evidence of syphilis, except a year later, an ulcer on his right temple and one on his leg. At the same time he thinks he had swelling of the glands in the left axilla. He has never had alopecia, nor iritis, nor any syphilitic development on a mucous mem- brane. About the end of June he was tattooed by Kelly. Two small figures were placed on the dorsum of his left forearm, and upon his chest a large crucifixion. The pigments, India ink and vermilion, were mixed with water, but Kelly put the needles in his mouth after inserting the India ink so as to suck oft' what was left on them before putting in the vermilion. The tattooing was followed by a very insignificant local inflammation, and not a single evidence of syphilitic inoculation. At the time of our examination, three and a half months after being tattooed, the man is in perfect general condition. He has no adenitis, no alopecia, no eruption whatever. We think there is no evidence that he has had syphilis at any time. This last case presents some difficulty in classification, but we place it in this list because it appears to us that the lesion described as occurring five years ago was not a true chancre. The account of the period of in- cubation cannot be relied on after so great a lapse of time. The lesion was followed by two suppurating buboes, which opened spontaneously, and by no distinctive syphilitic manifestations whatever. The ulcers, appearing a year later, we do not think can be fairly connected with the sore on his penis. If in this we are not mistaken, we have then four cases where, for some reason, the subjects of the tattooing have entirely escaped syphilitic inoculation. It is possible that even yet it may manifest itself, but up to this time the immunity has been perfect. Class II. Where the patients had syphilis before being tattooed. Case V William W., ret. 23, Am., laborer, was examined in the Philadelphia Hospital Sept. 22, and repeatedly afterwards. He gives a good family history; lias been himself a steady but moderate drinker. In October, 187G, Ire had gonorrhoea, and in February, 1877, a phagedenic chancre, which destroyed his whole glans penis. This was followed by a papular eruption on his legs and mucous patches in his mouth, one of which was very large. While in the Philadelphia Hospital, and when these