The most important warning may well be the occurrence of suicide in any other member of the family for several generations before. The tendency of suicide to repeat itself in families is now well known and recognised. During the year 1901 in New York City, in one case other members of the immediate family had committed suicide in six instances. The subject has taken on additional interest because of the suicide of a well-known gambler who was the fourth of his family in two generations to take his own life. In another case, reported within the last five years, the suicide was the last of a family of nine children, every one of whom had committed suicide. There is the record in the German army of four generations of a noble family, the eldest son of which committed suicide during the 5 years from 50 to 55. In these cases the tendency to suicide is not directly inherited, but there is a mental weakness that makes the individual incapable of withstanding the sufferings life may entail. In the later members of the family there is also a suggestibility that the frequent contemplation of the idea of suicide finally leads to the putting off of the natural abhorrence at the thought of its commission. In such families, therefore, it is particularly important to warn medical attendants and members of the family of the possibilities of unfortunate acts so as to prevent if possible the execution of any impulse to self-murder. JAMES J. WALSH. {311} XXVIII VENEREAL DISEASES AND MARRIAGE Syphilis is a disease that is contagious, inoculable, and transmissible by heredity. It may be acquired innocently, and it is so acquired in about 4 per centum of cases according to good authority, but the other 96 per centum is venereal. The disease attacks any part of the body within and without from the soles of the feet to the hair and finger-nails. The first evidence, where the case is not hereditary, is a hardened sore called a chancre; next the lymphatic glands swell, and many forms of skin-eruption occur; then follows a chronic inflammation of the cellulo-vascular tissues and the bones, and small tumours, called gummata, may develop in almost any part of the body. The disease may vary from a light attack to malignancy. There are periods in the course of the disease. 1. The period of primary incubation, or the time from infection to the appearance of the chancre. This is commonly three weeks. 2. The primary stage: the chancre forms and the neighbouring glands are affected. This stage lasts from three to ten days. 3. The secondary incubation, or the time between the appearance of the chancre and the development of what are called the secondary symptoms,--usually about six months. 4. The secondary stage. Here occur fever, anaemia, neuralgic pains, and the eruptions on the skin and the mucous membranes. This period lasts from twelve to eighteen months in the majority of cases.