Part 55 (1/2)
Upon these facts the writer of these pages remarked in his annual report to the Board of Governors for 1856:
”The ratio of venereal disease on the gross number of patients treated in 1854 was 37-4/10 per cent.
The ratio of the same disease in 1855 was 58-7/10 ”
Showing an increase in the year 1855 of 21-3/10 ”
The ratio of venereal disease on the gross number of patients treated during 1856 was 73-1/10 ”
Showing an increase in 1856, as compared with 1855, of 14-4/10 ”
Or an increase, as compared with 1854, of 35-7/10 ”
This steady increase, 21-3/10 per cent. in one year, and 14-4/10 per cent.
in the next, or 35-7/10 per cent. within two years, may be considered an incontrovertible proof of the progress of this malady in the city of New York. The fact that the people regard the Penitentiary Hospital as a _dernier resort_, an inst.i.tution to which nothing but the direst necessity will compel them to apply, justifies the conclusion that the cases treated are but a fraction of the disease existing, and its increase here may be taken as a sure indication of a corresponding or larger increase among the general population.”[399]
Again, on the same subject in 1857:
”In my last report I took the opportunity to submit to your Honorable Board facts proving the increase of venereal disease, and I then gave the ratio of that malady on the gross number of patients treated as 73-1/10 per cent. In the year 1857 the ratio was 65-2/10 per cent.; but this reduction of 7-9/10 per cent, must be considered in connection with the fact that other diseases, much beyond the general average, have been treated in the last year, so that a larger number of venereal cases will yet show a smaller percentage. The cases of phthisis pulmonalis (consumption), which have advanced from 58 in 1856 to 159 in 1857, sufficiently explain that the decrease of venereal affections is apparent and not real.”[400]
An investigation beyond the statistics upon which these remarks were based, and including the Penitentiary Hospital, Alms-house, Work-house and Penitentiary, had shown that of the total number admitted to these several inst.i.tutions 59-1/2 per cent. had suffered or were suffering from venereal disease at the time the inquiry was made. Of this proportion 45 per cent.
of the total were suffering _directly_ at the time of investigation, and 19 per cent. were suffering _indirectly_, or, in non-professional language, were laboring under diseases more or less consequent on the syphilitic taint.
The following detailed statistics of venereal disease treated in the Penitentiary Hospital for four years ending December 31, 1857, will be found to embrace many subjects which have been alluded to in these pages.
1854. 1855. 1856. 1857.
Total number of patients treated 4058 2657 2083 3158
Cases of primary syphilis 606 660 650 882 ” of secondary and other forms of syphilis 935 919 989 1208 ---- ---- ---- ---- Total of syphilitic diseases 1541 1579 1639 2090 NATIVITIES: Natives of United States 410 489 531 673 Foreigners 1131 1090 1108 1417 ---- ---- ---- ---- 1541 1579 1639 2090
AGES: Under 16 years 65 72 77 68 From 16 ” to 20 years 481 457 472 593 ” 21 ” to 25 ” 490 481 494 631 ” 26 ” to 30 ” 314 304 311 423 ” 31 ” to 40 ” 128 151 165 190 ” 41 ” to 50 ” 42 99 101 157 ” 51 ” and upward 21 15 19 28 ---- ---- ---- ---- 1541 1579 1639 2090
EDUCATION: Good 175 227 231 175 Imperfect 787 794 830 1161 Uneducated 579 558 578 754 ---- ---- ---- ---- 1541 1579 1639 2090
From the total number of venereal patients under treatment 1541 1579 1639 2090 Deduct those discharged each year 1253 1316 1389 1710 ---- ---- ---- ---- Leaving to add to the next year's account 288 263 250 380
Of the numbers discharged the following is the RESULT OF TREATMENT: Cured 874 1051 1201 1491 Relieved 370 263 183 213 Not relieved 7 1 Died 2 2 5 5 ---- ---- ---- ---- 1253 1316 1389 1710
DURATION OF TREATMENT: 5 days and under 13 16 17 83 6 ” to 10 days 57 36 68 102 11 ” to 20 ” 80 59 81 131 21 ” to 30 ” 154 121 137 187 1 month to 2 months 293 333 453 528 2 months to 3 months 304 443 340 328 3 ” to 4 ” 220 245 207 260 4 ” and upward 132 63 86 91 ---- ---- ---- ---- 1253 1316 1389 1710
Some few remarks may be made on the subject of primary syphilis. The proportion of the cases of this malady to the gross number of patients treated was in
1854 14-9/10 per cent.
1855 25-2/10 ”
1856 31-2/10 ”
1857 27-9/10 ”
By the term ”primary syphilis,” non-professional readers will understand the commencement of the disease, or symptoms which are the direct consequence of an impure connection, in contradistinction to ”secondary syphilis,” which is the comparatively remote result of infection; never appearing until after the primary symptoms are well developed, and frequently not until all traces of them are removed. He will thus see that every case of primary syphilis is in itself a proof of recent intercourse with a diseased person. These cases, then, have increased from 15 per cent. in 1854 to 31-1/4 per cent. in 1856, and 28 per cent. in 1857. The remarks recently quoted explain how 882 cases in 1857 make a smaller percentage than 650 in 1856. The fact of this increase compels us to but one conclusion, and that is a very important and suggestive one, namely, that _commerce with prost.i.tutes in 1857 was attended with nearly twice the risk of infection incurred in 1854; and, of course, the health of abandoned women has deteriorated in the same proportion_. This is not said with any wish on the part of the writer to be considered an alarmist. The facts are those which have come under his personal observation: the inference is but a plain and natural deduction.
But the Hospital, although the chief, is not the only inst.i.tution on Blackwell's Island where patients are treated for venereal disease. The Alms-house, Work-house, and Penitentiary have each a share of sufferers from this malady, to what extent will be shown by the annexed table:
1854. 1855. 1856. 1857.
Alms-house 33 173 85 52 Work-house 65 31 5 56 Penitentiary 176 234 430