The Treatment of Syphilis

Before describing the method I adopt in treating syphilis, it is necessary to consider the state of medical opinion upon the subject. Since syphilis has been recognised as a disease, mercury has been trusted to as the chief remedy. In the present day mercury has been called by some a vital antidote to the syphilitic poison. Dr Farquharson, in a recent work on therapeutics, says of mercury in its relation to syphilis, that " it may be considered a specific, or at least a vital antidote." It is a source of wonder to me how medical authors can use such vague phrases regarding drugs, when no such thing is at present known as an antidote to a vital poison. When on this subject I will quote Sir Joseph Fayrer's conclusions regarding the probability of finding an antidote for snake poison. He says, " To conceive of an antidote, in the true sense of the term, to snake poison, one must imagine a sub-