No one can estimate how much of the excessive mortality of infants is owing to this cause. In children who survive infancy, its blighting influence may be seen in the notched, deformed teeth, and other defects; and very often it will be found, upon looking into the mouth of the child, that the soft palate, and perhaps the hard palate as well, is in a state of ulceration. There is more than a suspicion that this disease may be transmitted for several generations, perhaps remaining latent during the life-time of one, and appearing in all its virulence in the next. Man the Only Transgressor.--Man is the only animal that abuses his sexual organization by making it subservient to other ends than reproduction; hence he is the only sufferer from this foul disease, which is one of the penalties of such abuse. Attempts have been made to communicate the disease to lower animals, but without success, even though inoculation was practiced. Origin of the Foul Disease.--Where or when the disease originated, is a mystery. It is said to have been introduced into France from Naples by French soldiers. That it originated spontaneously at some time can scarcely be doubted, and that it might originate under circumstances of excessive violation of the laws of chastity is rendered probable by the fact that gonorrhea, or an infectious disease exactly resembling it, is often caused by excessive indulgence, from which cause it not infrequently occurs in the newly married, giving rise to unjust suspicion of infidelity on both sides. Read the following from a noted French physician:-- "The father, as well as the mother, communicates the syphilitic virus to the children. These poor little beings are attacked sometimes at their birth; more often it is at the end of a month or two, before these morbid symptoms appear. "I recall the heart-rending anguish of a mother whom I assisted at her fifth confinement. She related to me her misfortune: 'I have already brought into the world four children. Alas! they all died during the first months of their existence. A frightful eruption wasted them away and killed them. Save me the one that is about to be born!' cried she, in tears. The child that I delivered was sickly and puny. A few days after its birth, it had purulent ophthalmia; then, crusted and ulcerated pustules, a few at first, numerous afterward, covered the entire surface of the skin. Soon this miserable little being became as meager as a skeleton, hideous to the sight, and died. Having questioned the husband, he acknowledged to me that he had had syphilis."[45] [Footnote 45: Bourgeois.] Cure of the "Social Evil."--With rare exceptions, the efforts of civil legislation have been directed toward controlling or modifying this vice, rather than extirpating it.