syphilis, too.

+Serious Misconceptions About the Chancre.+--Misconceptions about the
primary lesion or chancre of syphilis are numerous and serious, and are
not infrequently the cause for ignoring or misunderstanding later signs
of the disease. A patient who has gotten a fixed conception of a chancre
into his head will argue insistently that he never had a hard sore, that
his was soft, or painful instead of painless, or that it was only a
pimple or a chafe. All these forms are easily within the ordinary limits
of variation of the chancre from the typical form described in books,
and an expert has them all in mind as possibilities. But the layman who
has gathered a little hearsay knowledge will maintain his opinion as if
it were the product of lifelong experience, and will only too often pay
for his folly and presumption accordingly.

+Importance of Prompt and Expert Medical Advice.+--The recognition of
syphilis in the primary stage does not follow any rule of thumb, and is
as much an affair for expert judgment as a strictly engineering or legal
problem. In the great majority of cases a correct decision of the matter
can be reached in the primary stage by careful study and examination,
but not by any slipshod or guesswork means. To secure the benefit of
modern methods for the early recognition of syphilis those who expose
themselves, or are exposed knowingly, to the risk of getting the disease
by any of the commoner sources of infection, should seek expert medical
advice at once on the appearance of anything out of the ordinary, no
matter how trivial, on the parts exposed. The commoner sources of
infection may be taken to be the kissing of strangers, the careless use
of common personal and toilet articles which come in contact with the
mouth especially,--all of which are explained later,--and illicit sexual
relations. While this by no means includes all the means for the