Abstract
IN a paper on this subject read on May 30 before the Medical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases, Dr. J. D. Rolleston said that in no department of medicine is a knowledge of the lay writers on the history of the subject more necessary than in the domain of venereal disease. The information furnished by poets, dramatists, novelists and historians forms a valuable supplement to that derived from the study of contemporary medical works. In a survey of non-medical literature from the earliest times down to the present day containing any references to the three principal venereal diseases, Dr. Rolleston came to the following conclusions. There is no definite evidence that syphilis existed in Biblical times, classical antiquity or the Middle Ages. In striking contrast with the absence of any certain reference to the existence of syphilis in Europe before 1495, an immense amount of literature, lay as well as medical, dealing with the new disease followed that date. On the other hand, gonorrhoea, of which the first description is in Leviticus, dates from remote antiquity, but for about 250 years was identified with syphilis, the popular monosyllables for the two diseases being applied indiscriminately in lay literature to syphilis or gonorrhoea. Chancroid was probably as old as gonorrhoea and was well known in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Venereal Disease in Literature. Nature 133, 904 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133904c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133904c0