Chlorate of potash, f10 „ Water, .......... ....... ..to 8 ounces.
Of the mixture a dessert-spoonful in water is taken thrice daily after meals.
If the above treatment by pills is adopted as a precaution only, it should not be stopped after several weeks because no symptoms have appeared. It should be continued for at least six months, and preferably twelve months, though 11 ot necessarily continuously. It may be stopped for a few days at a time and then resumed, and if after four or six months no symptoms have appeared, the dose may be reduced to two pills daily. Where the secon dary symptoms have appeared the treatment must not he dropped simply because the rash on the skin has disappeared, the throat become well, and the health has apparently been restored. It ought to he persisted in for twelve months, and beyond that if symptoms still exist. If symptoms have ceased long before the twelve months have passed, the medicine may be stopped for short intervals and then resumed, and smaller or less frequent doses employed. Six months must pass during which the person is free of symptoms before the person can be pronounced cured.
In the third stage of the disease the drug used is iodide of potassium in :3-grain doses, dissolved in water and taken twice daily. It is well, in ordinary eases, after ceasing the use of mercury, to use the iodide for several weeks. Iodide of potassium has a marked effect in the nervous troubles of the third stage. Thus for the continuous intense headache a dose of 10 grains may be given to begin with three times a (lay. The (lose is daily increased by 3 or 4 grains till the person may be taking even 90 grains a day, or till the headache ceases, when the dose is gradually brought down ; hut the smaller (lose is to be persisted in for months.
Sarsaparilla in dessert-spoonful doses may be given with the iodide.
The modern treatment of the disease con sists in the injection into a vein of an arsenical preparation called Salvarsan, made public by Professor Ehrlich of Berlin in 1910. It was also designated by him "606".
Great benefit is derived from treatment at sulphur baths, such as Aix-la-Chapelle.
Ulcers and other sores may be bathed with a wash containing, to each ounce of water, 2 grains of sulphate of zinc.
For children a flannel bandage should be made to fit round the belly. On the surface next the skin a piece of mild blue ointment of the size of a pea should be smeared nightly. The movement of the flannel rubs it into the skin, which should be washed every third day. By the mouth syrup iodide of iron, a third of a tea-spoonful, should be given thrice daily. Cleanliness and good milk are essential.
The extremely contagious nature of the dis ease has been pointed out. It is, therefore, scarcely necessary to say that a syphilitic per son should abstain from sexual intercourse, from all contact, indeed, with others. It is probable, however, that in the third stage the contagiousness is not marked.
As regards marriage, it is almost a crime for a syphilitic person to marry before a year has elapsed without any sign of the disease. A person who has passed through the disease, and has been properly treated, should, therefore, not marry till three years have passed from the time of infection.