he last chances for a quick cure
will soon be gone. At any moment they may gain entrance to the blood
stream in large numbers. While the swelling of these glands occurs in
other conditions, there are peculiarities about their enlargement which
the physician looking for signs of the disease may recognize. Especially
in case of a doubtful lesion about the neck or face, when a bunch of
large swollen glands develops under the jaw in the course of a few days
or a couple of weeks, the question of syphilis should be thoroughly
investigated.

+Vital Significance of Early Recognition.+--The critical period of
localization of an early infection will be brought up again in
subsequent pages. As Pusey says, it is the "golden opportunity" of
syphilis. It seldom lasts more than two weeks from the first appearance
of the primary sore or chancre, and its duration is more often only a
matter of four or five days before the disease is in the blood, the
blood test becomes positive, and the prospect of what we call abortive
cure is past. Nothing can justify or make up for delay in identifying
the trouble in this early period, and the person who does not take the
matter seriously often pays the price of his indifference many times
over.

Chapter IV

The Nature and Course of Syphilis (Continued)

THE SECONDARY STAGE

+The Spread of the Germs Over the Body.+--The secondary stage of
syphilis, like the primary stage, is an arbitrary division whose
beginning and ending can scarcely be sharply defined. Broadly speaking,
the secondary stage of syphilis is the one in which the infection ceases
to be confined to the neighborhood of the chancre and affects the entire
body. The spread of the germs of the disease to the lymph-glands in the
neighborhood of the primary sore is followed by their invasion of the
blood itself. While this may begin some time before the body shows signs
of it, the serious outburst usually occurs suddenly in the course of a
few days, and fills the circulating blood with the little corkscrew
filaments, sending showers of them to every corner of the body and
involving every organ and tissue to a greater or less extent. This
explosion marks the beginning of the active secondary stage of syphilis.
The germs are now everywhere, and the effect on the patient begins to
suggest such infectious diseases as measles, chickenpox, etc., which are
associated with eruptions on the skin. But there can be no more serious
mistake