From tsuwm: http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/

The worthless word for the day is: tabescent

progressively wasting away (from L. tabes, a wasting away)

tabes dorsalis
5ModL, tabes of the back: see TABES & DORSAL16a chronic disease of the nervous system, usually caused by syphilis and characterized by disturbances of sensations, loss of reflexes and of muscular coordination, functional

There was a young lady from Marseilles
Who thought syph would just go away.
So now she has tabes
'And sabershin babies
And thinks she's Queen of the May.

The appealing little limerick was composed before 606 made such a big difference.
Too many people forgot what VD could do. Came the Sexual Revolution, and with it AIDs

Back in the late 19th Century, Dr. Paul Ehrlich set about to find a compound of arsenic (known to be toxic to the spirochtes that cause syphilis) that could be tolerated by humans (known to be vulnerable to arsenic too).

Keeping careful records, he started. When #1 didn't do what he wanted he tried #2. And on and on, until finally he came upon the six-hundred-sixth compound, and that had a satisfactory toxic/therapeutic ratio, and was duly manufactured and used. And applauded.

Salvarsan was its brand name, and it was the first effective agent against syphilis. It was informally known as "Ol' 606." Paul De Kruif wrote a very nice chronicle of the search, titled "Doctor Ehrlich's Magic Bullet," and included it in his collection "Microbe Hunters" (1926). There even a 1940 Hollywood movie on the subject.

Fast forward to the early 1970s. At Albany Medical Center, prior to Centrex, the telephone extension of the Serology lab (where the test for syphilis was performed) was - you guessed it - 606.

Nobody knew that it had any larger meaning. Or cared. Even the Curator of Rare Books at the Hospital/Medical School Library didn't crack a smile when the coincidence was brought to his attention.


Disappointment incarnate.

Disappointment incarnate.
Indeed.