Skull with Syphilitic Necrosis

Skull

Syphilis

Necrosis

Medical History, 19th Cent.

This ravaged skull, from a 26-year-old woman, shows the effects of late-stage syphilis. The bones of the cranium, especially the frontal bone, are deeply invaded. The vomer (which forms part of the nasal septum) is partially destroyed. The alveolar processes (the ridges that hold the teeth) are so affected that most of the teeth were lost before death.

Generally, such an advanced case of syphilis would take several decades to develop; this young woman was particularly unlucky. As Georges Dieulafoy wrote in A Text-book of Medicine (1912) “…when we see the destruction wrought by syphilis upon the cranial vault, we ask how life could have been compatible with such lesions.”

Thomas Dent Mütter, MD

1161.07

19th Century

Human skull, metal springs