Syphilis is a disease caused by a germ called spirocheta; the full name is spirocheta pallida--a pale, spiral-shaped germ. Though the disease has been ravaging Europe and America for centuries, the germ of it has been discovered only a few years ago, namely, in 1905, and, like the gonococcus, also by a German scientist, Fritz Schaudinn. Syphilis is a constitutional disease. In ten days to three weeks after a person has contracted syphilis, he (or she) develops a sore (at the spot where the germs got in). This sore is called _chancre_ or _primary lesion_. But when this sore makes its appearance the spirochetae and the poison which they elaborate are already circulating in the blood, all over the system. The disease is already systemic, or constitutional, and the chancre is the local expression of a constitutional disease. Cutting out the chancre will not cure the disease, because, as stated, the germs are already in the system. The time between the contraction of the disease (the infectious intercourse) and the appearance of the chancre is called the _Incubation Period_. The time between the appearance of the chancre and the appearance of the rash on the body (the rash looks like a measles rash and is called roseola, which means a rose-colored rash) is called the _Primary Stage_. It lasts about six weeks. With the appearance of the rash commences the _Secondary Stage_. This stage is characterized by all sorts of _eruptions_, mild and severe, by white little patches (called mucous patches) in the throat, mouth, tonsils, vagina, by falling out of the hair, etc. The length of this secondary stage depends a good deal upon the sort of treatment the patient gets. Improperly treated, or not treated at all, it may last two or three years or more. Properly treated, it may be cut short at once, in a few days, so that the patient may never again in his or her life get an eruption. The third or _Tertiary Stage_ is characterized by _ulcerations_ in various parts of the body and by _swellings_ or tumors. The name of a syphilitic swelling or tumor is gumma (plural, gummata). The tertiary stage is the most terrible stage and it used to be the terror of syphilitic patients. But at the present time, under our modern methods of treatment, patients, if properly treated, _never have a tertiary stage_. We have seen many patients who considered syphilis a trifling disease, because all they knew of their disease was the chancre and the first eruption, i.e., the roseola, and perhaps a slight falling out of the hair. They then put themselves under energetic treatment, the _activity_ of the disease was checked, and they never had another symptom afterwards, though a Wassermann test showed that the disease was not entirely eradicated. It was merely held in check--which is the second best thing. [Illustration: SPIROCHETA PALLIDA, OR TREPONEMA PALLIDUM, THE GERM OF SYPHILIS AS SEEN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.]