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¶ Prowess in athletics has always been considered a sure sign of physical fitness. But not to Drs. Jokl and Cluver. They have collected case histories of scores of athletes who suffered from major diseases: a champion swimmer with a form of insanity and paralysis caused by syphilis, a first-class ski-runner with a wooden leg, a shot-put champion with a congenital deformity of his chest muscle. Prize specimen was the "iron man of South African Rugby football," who died after a game. Both his kidneys were diseased, and he had an enlarged heart, hardening of the arteries, glandular trouble.
The American Social HygieneAssociation, after a survey of almost 2,000,000 people, announced that 3% of U.S. adults have syphilis. Jail inmates have the highest percentage of syphilis (19.75%). Next highest: domestic servants (11.7%).