26/01/2023
Before the discovery of penicillin
Here you see the effects of SYPHILIS on both soft tissue and the skeletal structure
Before the discovery of penicillin, syphilis was incurable. Its symptoms were as terrifying as they were unrelenting. Those who suffered from it long enough could expect to develop unsightly skin ulcers, paralysis, gradual blindness, dementia and “saddle nose,” a grotesque deformity which occurs when the bridge of the nose caves into the face - which you see in the photo of the woman.
Because of its prevalence in earlier centuries, both physicians and surgeons treated syphilitic patients. Many treatments involved the use of mercury, hence giving rise to the saying: "One night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury." Mercury could be administered in the form of calomel (mercury chloride), an ointment, a steam bath or pill. Unfortunately, the side effects could be as painful and terrifying as the disease itself. Many patients who underwent mercury treatments suffered from extensive tooth loss, ulcerations and neurological damage. In many cases, people died from significant mercury poisoning.
The ulcerations of the scalp in the photo of the man show the effects of the disease in its final stage, when it attacks a person's skeletal structure, as well as the brain and nervous system which often manifests itself in a form of madness. I can only imagine the terrible pain he must have been feeling at the end of his life. Both photos are from the Wellcome Collection in London; and the skull is from the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.
