Pathological facts : respectfully submitted to the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to enquire as to the means for the prevention of contagious diseases in certain naval and military stations / by David Macloughlin.

Date:
[1864]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological facts : respectfully submitted to the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to enquire as to the means for the prevention of contagious diseases in certain naval and military stations / by David Macloughlin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    first fourteen days of its appearance, aiid, with thfe point of a lancet, inserting this pus under the cuticle, as is done when we perform the operation of vaccination. If this pus, introduced under the cuticle, induces a pustule, followed by an ulcer, this is considered, by the syphiliclographers, to be the positive proof of the existence of a specific syphilitic virus in the ulcer from which this has been taken.—And the third opinion is— that no Medical Practitioner can, by the use of his eyes, or by the use of his touch, or by inoculation, ascertain the existence of a specific syphilitic virus. Therefore, after nearly four hundred years, that this supposed syphilitic virus first attracted attention, we are now no better acquainted with the pathology of this virus, than we were then ; unhappily, we go on now prescribing as recklessly for our patients as we did then, and we not only too often injure the constitution, and destroy the life of our patients, but too often we destroy the peace and happiness of pure and virtuous individuals. Let us enquire what claim any one cif these three opinions has, to be accepted as correct, by the medical profession. 1st. As to the hardness at the base of an ulcer on the genitals being a proof of the existence, in that ulcer, of a syphilitic virus. This hardness depends on the part of the genitals on which the uker is situated. Thus, if the ulcer is situated on the gland, .there is no hardness at the base