The  treatment  of  these  secondary  fissures  is  usually
very  successful.  Unless  they  are  produced  by  the  irri-
tation of  very  carious  and  jagged  teeth,  the  removal
of  the  neighbouring  teeth  is  not  necessary.  The
internal  administration  of  mercury,  and  the  general
constitutional  treatment  advisable  for  secondary
syphilis,  with,  above  all,  the  external  application  with
a  camel-hair  brush  of  a  ten-grain  solution  of  chromic
acid,  heals  them  with  the  greatest  rapidity.  They  cease
almost  immediately  to  be  so  sensitive,  and  in  less  than
a  week  are,  for  the  most  part,  scarred  over.  As  is
pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on  ulcers,  the  internal
administration  of  anti-syphilitic  remedies  may  not  re-
move these  secondary  aftections  of  the  tongue  unless
the  treatment  is  continued  during  many  weeks  or
months,  but  the  external  application  cures  them  with
the  greatest  rapidity.  If  a  solitary  deep  fissure  on
the  border  of  the  tongue  of  a  syphilitic  person  is  dis-
tinctly associated  v/ith  the  presence  of  a  rough  and
jagged  tooth,  the  cure  of  the  fissure  will  not  be  effected
without  removing  the  carious  tooth.
