[Scaramouch]

“And in the beginning, there was no known treatment for syphilis. It was only 14 years into the 40-year study that penicillin *began* to be used to treat syphilis.”

Salversan, which was used to treat syphilis, was available in 1910. It had a low therapeutic index and was replaced by penicillin in 1944.

[Zhang Fei]

[Salversan, which was used to treat syphilis, was available in 1910. It had a low therapeutic index and was replaced by penicillin in 1944.]

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Thanks for the tip. I had heard that Salversan had significant side effects, thanks to its toxic ingredients. It appears, if Wikipedia is to be believed, that those side effects have since been mitigated. Whether that was the case when penicillin was discovered to work on syphilis, I’ll probably look into sometime later.