standpoint of contagiousness. Just as the chancre swarms with the germs
of syphilis, so every secondary spot, pimple, and lump contains them in
enormous numbers. But so long as the skin is not broken or rubbed off
over them, they are securely shut in. There is no danger of infection
from the dry, unbroken skin, even over the eruption itself. But in the
mouth and throat and about the genitals, where the surface is moist and
thin, the covering quickly rubs or dissolves off, leaving the gray or
pinkish patches and the flattened raised growths from which the germs
escape in immense numbers and in the most active condition. Such patches
may occur under the breasts and in the armpits, as well as in the places
mentioned. The saliva of a person in this condition may be filled with
the germs, and the person have only to cough in one's face to make one a
target for them.

+Distribution of the Germs in the Body.+--The germs of syphilis have in
the past few years been found in every part of the body and in every
lesion of syphilis. While the secondary stage is at its height, they
are in the blood in considerable numbers, so that the blood may at these
times be infectious to a slight degree. They are present, of course, in
large numbers in the secretions from open sores and under the skin in
closed sores. The nervous system, the walls of the blood-vessels, the
internal organs, such as the liver and spleen, the bones and the
bone-marrow, contain them. They are not, however, apparently found in
the secretions of the sweat glands, but, on the other hand, they have
been shown to be present in the breast milk of nursing mothers who have
active syphilis. The seminal fluid may contain the germs, but they have
not been shown to be present either in the egg cells of the female or in
the sperm cells of the male.

+Fate of the Germs.+--The fate of all these vast numbers of syphilitic