An elderly
member of the profession presented himself entirely covered with
an evident syphilitic eruption, which rapidly disappeared under
the use of mercury. The only interest about the case was the
question as to how the disease had been acquired. The doctor was
evidently anxious to give all the information in his power, but
was positive that he had never been exposed to any sexual risk,
and as he had retired from practice, no possibility of infection
in that manner existed. He willingly stripped, and a careful
examination of his entire body surface revealed no trace of
lesion whatever on the genitals, or at any point, except a dusky
spot on one leg, which looked like the remains of a boil. This,
the doctor stated, had been due to a small sore, the dates of the
appearance and duration of which were found to fit exactly with
those of a primary lesion. There had also been some enlargement
of the femoral glands. He had never thought of the sore in this
connection, but remembered most distinctly that it followed a
flea-bite in an omnibus, and had been caused, as he supposed, by
his scratching the place, though he could not understand why it
lasted so long. Mr. Hutchinson concludes that all the evidence
tends to show that the disease had probably been communicated
from the blood of an infected person through the bite of the
insect.
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