THE PRIMARY STAGE OF SYPHILIS

+The So-called Stages of Syphilis.+--The division of the course of
syphilis into definite stages is an older and more arbitrary conception
than the one now developing, and was based on outward signs of the
disease rather than on a real understanding of what goes on in the body
during these periods. The primary stage was supposed to extend from the
appearance of the first sore or chancre to the time when an eruption
appeared over the whole body. Since the discovery of the Spirochæta
pallida, the germ of the disease, our knowledge of what the germ does
in the body, where it goes, and what influence it has upon the infected
individual, has rapidly extended. We now appreciate much more fully than
formerly that at the very beginning of the disease there is a time when
it is almost purely local, confined to the first sore itself, and
perhaps to the glands or kernels in its immediate neighborhood. Thorough
and prompt treatment with the new and powerful aid of salvarsan ("606")
at this stage of the disease can kill all the germs and prevent the
disease from getting a foothold in the body which only years of
treatment subsequently can break. This is the critical moment of
syphilis for the individual and for society, and its importance and the
value of treatment at this time cannot be too widely understood.

+Peculiarities of the Germ.+--Many interesting facts about the
Spirochæta pallida explain peculiarities in the disease of which it is
the cause. Many germs can be grown artificially, some in the presence of
air, others only when air is removed. The germ of syphilis belongs in
the latter class. The germ that causes tuberculosis, a rod-like organism
or bacillus, can stand drying without losing its power to produce the