The result of clinical observations and those of experimental and microscopical research should always be considered together. It is not for good that either should be allowed to rank as a court of appeal from the decisions of the other. There are special liabilities to error which are incident to each, and when their conclusions differ, the case should be tried over again.
Jonathan Hutchinson in "Syphilis" (preface, new edition).
There is an increasing tendency to administer bismuth compounds intravenously in the treatment of patients with syphilis, and an increasing number of commercial preparations of bismuth for such use are appearing. The knowledge imparted by many investigators, that bismuth compounds are considerably more toxic administered intravenously than intramuscularly, apparently has not deterred the clinical employment of the drug by this route. Since it is so employed, it becomes desirable that its status in experimental syphilis in rabbits be defined. Accordingly,