Melancholia syphilidophobica

Abstract

In the second half of the nineteenth century venereal diseases attained more attention and explosiveness in public discourse than ever before. Collective fear of the so-called French disease culminated in the emergence of melancholic syphilophobia a previously unknown form of hypochondriac suffering. This paper addresses the question of how this development occurred and focuses more specifically on the epistemological implications of the pathological fear of syphilis and highlights the systematic significance of etiological interpretation and nosological conceptualization of venereal disease.