race fit for nothing." The earliest known account of the introduction of
syphilis into the Maori race is in an old Maori song composed in the far
North. The Maori population in a village on the shores of Tom Bowline's
Bay was employed in a whaling-station on the Three Kings Islands, and
there they became infected and carried the disease to the mainland.
Venereal disease is not common now among the Maoris, but it made great
ravages in the early days of colonization, to which may be attributed
much of the sterility and repeated miscarriages in the transitional
period of Maori history.

Through the ages great confusion existed as to the origin and nature of
venereal disease, but in 1905 a micro-organism, the _Spironema
pallidum_, was demonstrated as the infective agent in syphilis, and the
gonococcus as the infecting organism of gonorrhœa had been discovered in
1879. As regards modes of infection, syphilis is contracted usually by
sexual congress; occasionally the mode of infection is accidental and
innocent, and congenital transmission is not uncommon. Gonorrhœa is
contracted by sexual congress as a rule, but occasionally from innocent
contact with discharges, as in lavatories.

Syphilis, therefore, is a markedly contagious and inoculable disease. It
gains entrance, and usually in three weeks (although this period may be
much shorter) a slight sore appears at the site of infection. It may be
so slight as to pass unnoticed. This is the primary stage of syphilis.
Later, often after two months, the secondary stage begins, and if not
properly treated may last for two years. The patient is not too ill
usually to attend to his avocation, and has severe headache, skin
rashes, loss of hair, inflammation of the eyes, or other varied
symptoms. The tertiary stage may be early or delayed, and its effects
are serious. Masses of cells of low vitality, known as "gummata," with a