present, of course, in
large numbers in the secretions from open sores and under the skin in
closed sores. The nervous system, the walls of the blood-vessels, the
internal organs, such as the liver and spleen, the bones and the
bone-marrow, contain them. They are not, however, apparently found in
the secretions of the sweat glands, but, on the other hand, they have
been shown to be present in the breast milk of nursing mothers who have
active syphilis. The seminal fluid may contain the germs, but they have
not been shown to be present either in the egg cells of the female or in
the sperm cells of the male.

+Fate of the Germs.+--The fate of all these vast numbers of syphilitic
germs, distributed over the whole body at the height of the disease, is
one of the most remarkable imaginable. As the acute secondary stage
passes, whether the patient is treated or not, by far the larger number
of the spirochetes in the body is destroyed by the body's own power of
resistance. This explains the statement, that cannot be too often
repeated, that the outward evidences of secondary syphilis tend to
disappear of themselves, whether or not the patient is treated. Of the
hordes of germs present in the beginning of the trouble, only a few
persist until the later stages, scattered about in the parts which were
subject to the overwhelming invasion. Yet because of some change which
the disease brought about in the parts thus affected, these few germs
are able to produce much more dangerous changes than the armies which
preceded them. In some way the body has become sensitive to them, and a
handful of them in course of time are able to do damage which billions
could not earlier in the disease. The man in whom the few remaining
germs are confined largely to the skin is fortunate. The unfortunates
are those who, with the spirochetes in their artery walls, heart muscle,
brain, and spinal cord, develop the destructive arterial and nervous
changes which lead to the crippling of life at its root and premature
death.

+Variations in the Behavior of the Germ of Syphilis.+--Differences in
the behavior of the same germ in different people are very familiar in
medicine and are of importance in syphilis. As an example, the germ of
pneumonia may be responsible for a trifling cold in one person, for an
attack of grippe in the next, and may hurry the next person out of the
world within forty-eight hours with pneumonia. Part of this difference
in the beha