time this recommendation should apply to salvarsan, since there can be no controversy over the relative merits of the two drags. Finally, so far as our own investigations are concerned, we must admit that Dr. Smith is correct in the tentative conclusion contained in his final paragraph. We think that it is essential to apply treatment at once without waiting for the Wassermann reaction ; firstly, for the reason that valuable time must not be wasted, and secondly, because the treatment will not

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... ffect the result of the reaction within any reasonable number of days. It should be applied after treatment has begun. The great merit of the test is not only that it greatly assists in an accurate diagnosis and is almost essential to a prognosis, but it establishes the nature of a case conclusively, although there might be no suspicion of syphilis, and thus permits of a much more thorough treatment than would be applied if the case were left in obscurity.