IN  CHILDREN

In  children  and  young  persons  who  have  not  acquired  syphilis,
general  paralysis  does  not  occur  unless  they  are  the  subjects
of  hereditary  syphilis.  Usually  the  patient  has  been  more  or
less  weak-minded  from  an  early  age,  but  the  general  paralysis
does  not  occur  until  the  patient  is  in  his  or  her  teens.  There
is  no  marked  preponderance  of  cases  in  either  sex,  both  sexes
being  equally  liable  to  hereditary  syphilis.  The  course  of  the
disease  is  similar  to  that  which  occurs  in  women,  being  of  the
demented  type  and  of  slow  progress,  with  crises  at  long  intervals
and  of  mild  character.  As  in  adult  general  paralysis,  there  is
sometimes  a  history  of  a  blow  on  the  head,  but  then  it  is  to  be
remembered  that  few  persons  pass  through  childhood  without
an  accident  of  this  character.  The  physical  symptoms  are  the
same  as  in  the  adult.  Seeing  that,  in  adult  general  paralysis,
increased  sexuality  is  frequent  in  the  early  stage,  it  might  be
expected  that  juvenile  sexual  paralysis  might  be  attended  by
a  precocious  excess  of  this  function  ;  but  this  is  not  the  case.
On  the  contrary,  the  sexual  development  is  usually  arrested.  It
must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  increased  sexuality
occurs  in  adults  in  the  exalted  type  of  the  disease,  and  has  not
been  observed  in  the  demented  type,  which  is  that  which  occurs
in  children.
