general paralysis of the insane

noun

1. a disease of the central nervous system: a late manifestation of syphilis, often occurring up to 15 years after the original infection, characterized by mental deterioration, speech defects, and progressive paralysis GPI Also calledgeneral paresisdementia paralytica

Example Sentences

Bazar, for example, cites the symptoms of late stage syphilis, or what was then understood as “general paralysis of the insane.”

From Seattle Times

Termed general paralysis of the insane, it was widely supposed by early practitioners to be caused by bad heredity, ‘weak character’ or moral turpitude.

From Nature

What we now know to be a late stage of the disease was at the time termed “general paralysis of the insane.”

From The New Yorker

The pair took pus from the sores of syphilitics and injected it into patients suffering from general paralysis of the insane.

From The New Yorker

Toward the end of the century, as many as one in five people entering asylums had general paralysis of the insane.

From The New Yorker