ed syphilis is. Hereditary syphilis practically is not contagious
except during the eruptions and active manifestations in infancy, such
as the nasal discharge and the other sores in the mouth and about the
genitals. As adults they can enter into the intimate relations of life
without risk. Many of them, while perhaps having positive blood tests
while the disease is active, later become negative without treatment.
Some of them even recover from the disease to the extent that they can
acquire it again, since there is no absolute immunity.

+Syphilis in Adopted Children.+--A word might well be said at this point
on the adoption of children with hereditary syphilis. In all probability
this is not a common occurrence, certain factors tending to diminish the
risk. A child adopted after its second year will not be so likely to
have the disease, since most syphilitic children die before this age is
reached. Agencies which arrange for the adoption of children are now
much more careful about the matter than formerly, and a Wassermann test
on the mother and also on the child, as well as a careful history in the
case of the mother, is frequently available. The information in regard
to the mother is quite as important as that about the child, since the
child may have a negative test while the mother's may be positive.
Children who have hereditary syphilis, even in latent form, should not
be offered for adoption, and should become a charge upon the state.
Families in which it later develops that an adopted child was syphilitic
should not, however, be needlessly alarmed for their own safety, since,
from the standpoint of infectiousness, the late forms of hereditary
syphilis are not dangerous to others. The agency from which the child
was adopted should assume responsibility for the child if the family
cannot meet the situation. The state of Michigan has been a pioneer in
this country in legislation which provides for the welfare of these
children among others. A law has been enacted making it possible to
provide for their medical treatment for an indefinite period in the
state hospital at Ann Arbor, at the cost of the state.

+Treatment of Hereditary Syphilis.+--The question of the treatment and
cure of a person with hereditary syphilis is in many respects a
different one from that in an acquired case. The foothold which the germ
has in the body in hereditary syphilis is stronger even than in an
untreated acquired case. Many of the c