Recent Advances in the Aetiology and Treatment of Neurosyphilis

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Abstract
During the first two decades of this century important advances were made in our knowledge of syphilis. Wassermann in 1904 introduced the serological reaction which bears his name; Schaudinn and Hoffmann discovered the spirochaete in 1905; Plaut in 1908 extended the application of the Wassermann test to the cerebro-spinal fluid; Ehrlich in 1909 synthesized “606”; Noguchi in 1913 demonstrated spirochaetes in the brains of general paralytics, and Wagner-Jauregg in 1918 inaugurated malaria therapy. During the second two decades no outstanding discoveries have been made, but there has been in these last twenty years a large amount of verification and elaboration; more sensitive serological tests have been devised, new chemo-therapeutic drugs have been manufactured, the histology of parenchymatous neurosyphilis has been more fully studied, and many methods of pyretotherapy have been tried. A review of the vast literature which has been published soon reveals the fact, however, that there are still numerous outstanding problems awaiting solution, many of which were already being discussed 20 and 30 years ago.