7.Abraham Lincoln May Have Had Syphilis While President
7.亚伯拉罕·林肯担任总统时可能已染上梅毒

If Abraham Lincoln had syphilis, he was killed before the symptoms became too severe.
如果亚伯拉罕·林肯的确得了梅毒病的话，那么在他被刺杀的时候，他的病症还未十分严重。
In America, syphilis was common at the time because there was no protection from the disease and no real cure.
在当时的美国，梅毒是一种相当常见的疾病，因为那时还没有对梅毒的防护措施，也没有有效的治愈方法。
Even though Lincoln was shot before the later stages of syphilis were manifested, there is medical evidence that Lincoln had the disease. There is also considerable evidence that he gave the disease to his wife.
虽然林肯的梅毒病症还没有进入后期显现阶段，他就被枪杀了，但是有医学证据可以证明，林肯确实染上了这一疾病。同时，也有充分的证据显示，他还把这一疾病传染给了他的妻子。
Before Lincoln married his wife, Mary Todd, he often consorted with prostitutes, which could have been where he contracted the disease.
在林肯迎娶他的妻子玛丽·托德以前，他经常与妓女们交缠厮混，那可能就是他沾染上梅毒的源头了。
Around 1835, Lincoln admitted to his close friend and biographer William Herndon that he'd caught the disease.
大约1835年，林肯就向他的挚友、著名传记作家威廉·赫恩登承认，他的确染上了梅毒。
Later, Herndon speculated that syphilis may have caused the Lincoln children to die prematurely.
后来，赫恩登推测，梅毒可能就是导致林肯的孩子们过早死亡的元凶。

Lincoln often took "little blue pills" (mercury pills), which were a common treatment for the disease at the time.
林肯经常服用一种"蓝色小药片"（水银片）。在当时，这是一种常见的梅毒治疗方法。
Possibly the greatest evidence that Lincoln had syphilis was his wife's manifestation of the symptoms.
或许，林肯患有梅毒最有力的证据，就是他妻子所显示出来的梅毒症状。
Syphilis produces a variety of psychological symptoms that cause insanity: Mary Todd Lincoln most certainly had those.
梅毒会引发一系列多种多样的精神症状，甚至还会导致精神失常。而玛丽·托德·林肯肯定有这些征兆。
She was known for her erratic behavior in later life, and she complained of hallucinations and delusions.
在之后的人生中，她异常古怪的行为人尽皆知，并且时常因幻觉与妄想而抱怨。
Mary Todd also developed blindness and had extreme weight loss, other possible symptoms of syphilis. She had insomnia, impaired coordination, migraines, and chronic pain.
玛丽·托德的视力也进一步恶化，并且逐渐身形消瘦、形容枯槁，这也是梅毒的其他症状。她逐渐失眠、出现四肢协调性障碍以及偏头痛等病症，还患上了长期病痛。
When an autopsy was performed, her brain showed signs of nerve deterioration, which may have been related to syphilis.
当她死后，遗体经尸检证实，她的大脑显现出神经恶化的迹象，这可能也与她的梅毒病症有关。

6.John Wilkes Booth May Have Been Suffering From Syphilis During The Assassination
6.约翰·威尔克斯·布斯可能在暗杀时已饱受梅毒之苦
It's undeniable that John Wilkes Booth was mentally unstable. However, it isn't known what caused his insanity.
无疑，约翰·威尔克斯·布斯精神不稳定，但人们却并不知道是什么导致了他的精神错乱。
Theories range from alcoholism to mental disorders, but one theory has enough evidence to possibly be accepted as fact: John Wilkes Booth had late-stage syphilis.
各种版本从酒精中毒扯到精神障碍，不过其中一个版本还是有充分理由被大众认可的：约翰·威尔克斯·布斯是梅毒晚期。
The world in which Booth was born and raised was a fertile one for syphilis.
布斯自出世至长大成人所处的环境绝对是梅毒滋生的温床。
Booth was a handsome man and a popular actor from a famous family. It would have been easy for him to find sexual partners.
他英俊多金还是演员家庭的著名一员，找性伴侣当然绝非难事。
He was a frequent womanizer, so catching syphilis was probably only a matter of time.
事实上他也确实是频繁做爱的好色之徒，因此感染梅毒只是时间问题。
Although young when he killed Lincoln, Booth's career was almost over.
尽管他杀害林肯总统时仍很年轻，但他的演员生涯已走至尽头。

He suffered from hoarseness, a common symptom of syphilis, which made him unable to project his voice on stage.
他常常嗓子嘶哑以至于无法进行与声音相关的表演，而嗓子嘶哑正是感染梅毒的显著特征。
Other possible symptoms include the tumors which he had removed from his back and neck, frequent rashes all over his body, and pain in his chest.
他还有其他可能由梅毒引起的症状，包括从背部和颈部切除的肿瘤，遍布全身的皮疹和胸口的痛。
He also showed the psychological signs—mental instability, delusions, mood fluctuations, and depression. He was known to fly into angry rages at the slightest provocations.
还有一些心理症状如心理不稳定，妄想，情绪波动和抑郁症。他为一点小事就暴怒的脾气人尽皆知。
Booth also became impulsive, a symptom indicative of the deterioration of the frontal lobe, which is common with syphilis.
布斯也变得冲动鲁莽，这预示着他的大脑额叶开始恶化，这正是梅毒常见的一种症状。
If Booth did indeed kill Lincoln because of mental illness caused by syphilis, imagine how different history would have been if he had never caught the disease.
如果布斯真是因为梅毒引起的精神疾病而刺杀了林肯，那么想象一下他若从未感染过这种疾病，历史将如何改写。

5.Charles VIII Caught Syphilis And Started An Epidemic
5.查尔斯八世感染梅毒并引起了一种传染病的盛行
King Charles VIII of France had an obsessive desire to reclaim the Kingdom of Naples. In 1491, he married Anne of Brittany, ceding the rights to several territories to her family.
法国国王查尔斯八世着迷般渴望夺回那不勒斯王国。1491年，他娶了布列塔尼的安妮，割让了几块领土给她的家族。
In 1493, he signed the Treaty of Barcelona, which gave even more French territories away.
1493年，他又签署了《巴塞罗那条约》，割让了更多的法国领土。
Only Charles knew why he had made such strange decisions: He wanted to get rid of all concerns so that he could conquer Naples.
只有查尔斯知道这些荒谬决定的原因：他想除去所有纷扰来专心征服那不勒斯。
Finally, in 1495, he marched into Naples without opposition and received the crown.
最终，在1495年，他在无异议的情况下进军那不勒斯并成功加冕。

Unfortunately for Charles, almost every other kingdom in Italy opposed his leadership.
不幸的是，意大利几乎所有的其他王国都反对他的领导。
They banded together to form the League of Venice and defeated Charles at the Battle of Fornovo. Charles and the remainder of his army fled back to France.
他们结成威尼斯联盟在福尔诺沃战役击溃了查尔斯。查尔斯与他的军队逃回了法国。
Apparently, sailors from Christopher Columbus's crew had gone to Naples, where they spread syphilis.
很明显，克里斯托弗·哥伦布的船员们去了那不勒斯，在那里传播梅毒。
When Charles and his army occupied the kingdom, they had sexual relations with people in Naples and subsequently contracted the disease.
当查尔斯和他的军队占领了此王国，他们在那不勒斯和当地人发生了性关系，随后染上了这种疾病。
During their retreat, Charles and his army caused an epidemic of syphilis throughout Europe. As a result, syphilis became known as the "French disease."
在他们的撤退期间，查尔斯和他的军队在整个欧洲都引起了梅毒的流行。结果，梅毒被称为"法国病"。

4.Ivan The Terrible's Infamous Reign May Have Been Caused By Syphilis
4.梅毒竟是伊凡大帝臭名昭著的统治原因
While Ivan the Terrible was a relatively sane and just ruler at the beginning of his reign in Russia, he became increasingly insane and cruel in his later years.
虽然伊凡大帝在统治俄国初期相对比较开明正直，但是在他当政晚年，他愈发神经兮兮，愈加残暴。
In one fit of rage, he even killed his son. While insanity is quite common in royalty, there seemed to be no reason for Ivan the Terrible's sudden change in personality.
一次，他大发雷霆，竟然杀死了自己的儿子。因为精神失常在皇室中很常见，伊凡大帝这种人格上的转变毫无缘由貌似也可以接受。
However, recent medical evidence shows what the cause may have been.
然而近来，有医学证据表明已找到了原因。
As mentioned earlier, mercury was a common treatment for syphilis before there was an effective cure.
上文也提到过，在出现治疗梅毒的有效方法之前，水银是最常见的治疗方式。
So when Ivan the Terrible's body was tested by forensic scientists centuries after his death, they put two and two together when they found high levels of mercury in Ivan's corpse.
而就在几个世纪后，当法医检验伊凡大帝的尸体时，法医在他体内发现了含量很高的水银，因此，他们根据以往的经验推断伊凡大帝患了梅毒。
Of course, mercury poisoning could have also actually caused many of Ivan the Terrible's psychological symptoms, rather than the other way around.
当然，水银中毒确实会引起伊凡大帝的很多心理症状，不用说也都知道。
But why would Ivan's physicians have given him mercury in the first place?
但是，为什么伊凡的医生一开始就给他使用水银呢？

From Kazimierz Waliszewski's 1904 book, Ivan the Terrible, a description of Ivan's behavior in later life matches symptoms of the later stages of syphilis:
从Kazimierz Waliszewski所著的《伊凡大帝》（1904年）一书的描述中，伊凡晚年的行为同晚期梅毒症状很匹配，他写道：
During the second half of the Sovereign's life, as to which we possess most information, his habitual expression struck the majority of witnesses as being threatening and gloomy, though he often burst into roars of laughter.
在君主的后半段生命中，据我们掌握的信息，他那种震慑、阴郁的惯性表情给大多数见证者留下了深刻地印象，虽然他时常也会突然发出一阵大笑声
Ivan was energetic to the point of violence, and yet timid down to outright cowardice; his pride amounted to positive madness, and his humility occasionally descended to baseness.
伊凡热衷于暴力，但又很胆小，表现为彻头彻尾的懦夫；他骄傲，骄傲到散发着积极的疯狂；他又很卑微，时而会卑微到卑鄙。
He was intelligent, and yet capable of saying and doing the most foolish things.
他聪明，但又会说蠢话，做蠢事。
His paranoia, mood swings, and poor health could all have been caused by tertiary syphilis.
他偏执，情绪波动大，身体不好，这些都可能是梅毒引起的。