Syphilis sive morbus humanus : a rationalization of yaws, so-called, for scientists and laymen interested in the damage to man from venereal diseases / Charles S. Butler.

  • Butler, Charles S. (Charles St. John), 1875-1944.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Syphilis sive morbus humanus : a rationalization of yaws, so-called, for scientists and laymen interested in the damage to man from venereal diseases / Charles S. Butler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is little hope of educating the masses unless the news¬ papers and movies have a complete change of tech¬ nique here. They must lose their gun-shyness and boldly use the names which define. Otherwise, the venereal question will remain in its present highly unsatisfactory condition indefinitely. That this shy¬ ness on the part of those agencies which alone can be depended upon to educate the masses is purely arti¬ ficial is shown by the fact that the newspapers and movies display material daily on sex matters which is morally degrading. Education of the type here recommended is morally uplifting. Their shyness of speech about the venereal diseases is in part due to an outmoded medical ethics which taboos the teaching of such technical material to laymen. The male of the human species has been handling prophylaxis against this terrible triad since long before Xenophon managed that memorable march of the 10,000. His Excellency has made a failure of it! Wars and military operations have, since the begin¬ ning of recorded history, spread venereal diseases widely, while during intervals of peace the degree of subsidence has depended upon the racial capacity for personal cleanliness. Today we may say that the in¬ cidence of venereal diseases is an index of the physical and moral cleanliness of any people. A possible ex¬ ception to this statement will be considered later, but among Christian and Hebrew peoples the preachers and the rabbis have done more to lessen the damage from these complaints than have the physicians. In¬ deed, except among controlled groups of men such as soldiers and sailors, prevention has been up to the con¬ science and cleanliness of the individual. Among highly civilized peoples today, the incidence of syphi¬ lis is under ten per cent while among the more back¬ ward and uncleanly it may rise to the vicinity of eighty per cent.