Treatment of the Local Manifestations.—­The skin lesions are treated on the same lines as similar eruptions of other origin.  As local applications, preparations of mercury are usually selected, notably the ointments of the red oxide of mercury, ammoniated mercury, or oleate of mercury (5 per cent.), or the mercurial plaster introduced by Unna.  In the treatment of condylomata the greatest attention must be paid to cleanliness and dryness.  After washing and drying the affected patches, they are dusted with a powder consisting of equal parts of calomel and carbonate of zinc; and apposed skin surfaces, such as the nates or labia, are separated by sublimate wool.  In the ulcers of later secondary syphilis, crusts are got rid of in the first instance by means of a boracic poultice, after which a piece of lint or gauze cut to the size of the ulcer and soaked in black wash is applied and covered with oil-silk.  If the ulcer tends to spread in area or in depth, it should be scraped with a sharp spoon, and painted over with acid nitrate of mercury, or a local hyperaemia may be induced by Klapp’s suction apparatus.

In lesions of the mouth and throat, the teeth should be attended to; the best local application is a solution of chromic acid—­10 grains to the ounce—­painted on with a brush once daily.  If this fails, the lesions may be dusted with calomel the last thing at night.  For deep ulcers of the throat the patient should gargle frequently with chlorine water or with perchloride of mercury (1 in 2000); if the ulcer continues to spread it should be painted with acid nitrate of mercury.

In the treatment of iritis the eyes are shaded from the light and completely rested, and the pupil is well dilated by atropin to prevent adhesions.  If there is much pain, a blister may be applied to the temple.

The Relations of Syphilis to Marriage.—­Before the introduction of the Ehrlich-Hata treatment no patient was allowed to marry until three years had elapsed after the disappearance of the last manifestation.  While marriage might be entered upon under these conditions without risk of the husband infecting the wife, the possibility of his conveying the disease to the offspring cannot be absolutely excluded.  It is recommended, as a precautionary measure, to give a further mercurial course of two or three months’ duration before marriage, and an intravenous injection of an arsenical preparation.

#Intermediate Stage.#—­After the dying away of the secondary manifestations and before the appearance of tertiary lesions, the patient may present certain symptoms which Hutchinson called reminders.  These usually consist of relapses of certain of the affections of the skin, mouth, or throat, already described.  In the skin, they may assume the form of peeling patches in the palms, or may appear as spreading and confluent circles of a scaly papular eruption, which if neglected may lead to the formation of fissures and superficial ulcers.  Less frequently there is a relapse of the eye affections, or of paralytic symptoms from disease of the cerebral arteries.