Syphilis of the cardiovascular system is one of the most serious forms of late syphilis, and the question of treatment is consequently of great importance. The methods used in this form of the disease are similar to those employed in other forms, but the results are both less brilliant and less constant. Numerous studies of the prognosis and the results of treatment in cardiovascular syphilis have been published, but few of them are based on a sufficient number of cases or have been carefully enough controlled to make the conclusions reliable. Moreover, in most of the reports, no differentiation is made between simple aortitis and aortic insufficiency or aneurysm, but all agree that the prognosis in simple aortitis is much more favorable than that in the more advanced stages of the disease.

The present discussion will be confined to the treatment of cardiovascular syphilis of the type characterized by either