Chapter II, The Mode of Venereal Infection, from John Hunter’s A Treatise on the Venereal Disease, 1786

<A HUNTER, JOHN>

<N A TREATISE ON THE VENEREAL DISEASE>
<D 1786>

<P 22>

CHAPTER II.

THE MODE OF VENEREAL INFECTION

EVERY infectious diſeaſe has its peculiar manner of being caught, and

among mankind there is generally ſomething peculiar in the way of life,

or ſome attending circumſtance which expoſes them at one time or other to

contract ſuch diſeaſes, and which if avoided would prevent their propagation.

The itch for inſtance is generally caught by a ſpecies of civility, the ſhaking

of hands, therefore the hand is moſt commonly the firſt part affected.  And

as the venereal poiſon is generally caught by the connection between the ſexes,

the parts of generation commonly firſt ſuffer; from this circumſtance people

do not ſuſpect this diſeaſe when the ſymptoms are any where elſe, while

they always ſuſpect it in every complaint of thoſe parts.

                In the lower claſs of peole, one as naturally thinks of the itch when there

is an eruption between the fingers, as we do in young men of the venereal

diſeaſe from the genitals being affected; but as every ſecreting ſurface whether

cuticular or non-cuticular, as was explained before, is liable to be infected by

the venereal poiſon when it is applied to them, it is poſſible for many other parts

beſides the genitals to receive this diſeaſe, therefore it appears in the anus,

mouth, noſe, eyes, ears, and, as has been ſaid, in the nipples of women from

giving ſuck to children who have it in their mouths; which children have

been infected in the birth from the parts of the mother being diſeaſed.