A METHOD OF TREATMENT FOR NEUROSYPHILIS

A criticism of the Swift-Ellis system of intraspinal therapy of neurosyphilis may be made because of the minute amounts of arsphenamin detectable as arsenic, carried over in serum secured by drawing blood one hour after the intravenous injection of arsphenamin. This objection is removed by the technic of Ogilvie, who adds arsphenamin, and by that of Marinesco, who adds neo-arsphenamin, to serum in vitro prior to intraspinal injection; but in both methods the patient may be deprived of the beneficial effects of the intravenous administration of these drugs, which probably constitutes a valuable part of the Swift-Ellis treatment. For more than a year, I have used a plan of combined treatment with mercurials and arsphenamin by which I believe that these objections are corrected. In addition, advantage is taken of the very probable value of spinal drainage treatment advocated by Dercum and Gilpin, which is based on the assumption that