1  Infants  conceived  and  developed  in  the  womb  of  a  female  suffering  from
constitutional  syphilis  seldom  live  beyond  the  period  of  the  first  dentition;
if  they  survive  this  period,  their  health  is  generally  delicate  and  precarious,
in  spite  of  the  most  rational  treatment  to  which  they  may  be  submitted.
See  "  Lagneau,"  Ex-Chirurgien  de  1'Hopital  Veneriennes.  Syphilis  de  la
femme  enceinte.  Paris,  1812,  p.  283.
PREGNANT  WOMEN,  ETC.  193

"  Observation  has  taught  me,"  says  Bertin,  "  that  diseased
pregnant  women  more  frequently  miscarry  when  they  have  not
been  submitted  to  any  treatment,  than  when  they  have  been
treated  during  pregnancy,  and  that  when  this  event  happens
during  the  course  of  treatment,  it  depends  commonly  either
upon  the  disease  itself,  badly  treated,  or  treated  too  late,  upon
the  state  of  cachexia  or  weakness  to  which  the  patient  has
been  reduced  by  her  disease,  or  upon  the  excesses  she  has
committed  during  her  pregnancy."

The  result  of  modern  experience  shows  that  a  pregnant
female  constitutionally  diseased  may  be  treated  with  safety,  and
with  a  strong  probability  of  cure  both  to  herself  and  the  eradi-
cation and  prevention  of  disease  in  the  foetus  in  utero.
It  is  not  prudent  to  commence  the  full  treatment  of
a  pregnant  female  during  the  ninth  month  of  her  pregnancy.
At  this  period  a  palliative  treatment  only  should  be  adopted ;
if  a  mercurial  one,  it  should  consist  in  alterative  doses  of
this  drug  merely,  and  frictions  with  small  quantities  of  mercu-
rial ointment  every  two  or  three  days,  leaving  the  full  treat-
ment to  be  commenced  a  month  after  delivery.
