Appalling as are the consequences of gonorrheal infection in men, they are
not so fatal or so far-reaching as syphilis. The causative parasite of
this disease spares not a single tissue in the body and may disturb any or
all of its functions, not even mentality escaping. As a cause of death it
is extremely frequent. Our statistics ordinarily ascribe to syphilis but
a small percentage of the deaths actually due to it; for instance, many of
our cases of spinal disease, paralysis, arterial and other organic
diseases are tabled under other names, although directly due to syphilis.

In women gonococcic infections are even more destructive than in men, as
it is extremely common for the infection to extend to the tubes and to the
peritoneal cavity, thus necessitating dangerous and mutilating operations,
generally followed by sterility and often by death. Syphilis, though less
frequent in women than in men, is nearly if not quite as fatal as in men,
and otherwise similar in its baneful effects. I The child suffers the most
tragic results of venereal infection, for it is always wholly innocent,
yet infected to a greater or less extent, if the parents be syphilitic,
and frequently if the birth-canal be gonorrheally infected. Although
silver nitrate is a remedy for gonorrheal infection, if applied to the
eyes immediately after birth, nevertheless the babe frequently suffers
with infected eyes, and not infrequently with blindness.

If the child's sad infection is syphilis, instead of gonorrhea, there are
still other miseries in store for it. If it is not so fortunate to be
stillborn, it may have infection that ranges from almost imperceptible
degrees to the most loathsome extent that it is possible for animal tissue
to harbor. Its brain may be so invaded by the syphilitic parasites that it
can never attain any degree of mentality; its spinal column maybe so
involved that paralytic conditions will surely result; and if these nerve
centers escape special involvement, other organs may be affected, such as