ABSTRACT
The two diseases syphilis and tuberculosis, both running in the majority of cases a course protracted over many years are responsible for a large share of the total deaths of mankind which occur before old age. Syphilis is the major venereal disease. Like gonorrhoea, in the adult it is almost entirely traceable to impure sex relationships. Syphilis is a frequent cause of still-births and of premature live-birth of diseased infants. It is often responsible for partial blindness, and for deafness which may appear to be hereditary. Gonorrhoea is the chief cause of involuntary sterility in women, and in more than half the women infected by it there is said to occur inflammation of the female pelvic organs, often leading to chronic invalidity. Modern knowledge of syphilis has greatly increased the possibilities of controlling it. A most important step in control of syphilis was made by Ehrlich.
