ow
serious a matter a mild early syphilis may be.

+The Dangerous Contagious Relapses.+--Secondary syphilis does not begin
like a race, at the drop of a hat, or end with the breaking of a tape.
When the first outburst has subsided, a series of lesser outbreaks,
often covering a series of years, may follow. These minor relapses or
recurrences are mainly what make the syphilitic a danger to his fellows.
They are to a large extent preventable by thorough modern treatment. Few
people are so reckless as wholly to disregard precautions when the
severe outburst is on. But the lesser outbreaks, if they occur on the
skin, attract little or no attention or are entirely misunderstood by
the patient. Only too often they occur as the flat, grayish patches in
the mouth and genital tract, such as are seen in the secondary stage,
where, because they are out of sight and not painful, they pass
unnoticed. The tonsils, the under side and edges of the tongue, and the
angles of the mouth just inside the lips are favorite places for these
recurrent mucous patches. They are thus ideally placed to spread
infection, for, as in the secondary stage, each of these grayish patches
swarms with the germs of syphilis. Similar recurrences about the
genitals often grow, because of the moisture, into buttons and flat,
cauliflower-like warts from which millions of the germs can be squeezed.
Sometimes they are mistaken for hemorrhoids or "piles." With all the
opportunities that these sores offer for infection, it is surprising
that the disease is not universal. Irritation from friction, dirt, and
discharges, and in the mouth the use of tobacco, are the principal
influences acting to encourage these recurrences.

+Relapses in the Nervous System and Elsewhere.+--Mucous patches are, of
course, not the only recurrences, though they are very common. At any
time a little patch of secondary eruption may appear and disappear in
the course of a short time. Recurrences are not confined to the skin,
and those which take place in the nervous system may result in temporary
or permanent paralysis of important nerves, including those of the eyes
and ears. Again, recurrences may show themselves in the form of a
general running down of the patient from time to time, with loss of
weight and general symptoms like those of the active secondary period.

The secondary period as a whole is not in itself the serious stage of
syphilis. Most of the symptoms are easily controlled