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Syphilis in the latent stage, as it exists in most pregnant women, is difficult to detect. This means that the disease must be suspected in every case, for a successful termination of pregnancy and a healthy child cannot be expected in the presence of an active or even a quiescent infection of this nature.

Neoplasms of the iris are of infrequent occurrence, and among them leiomyomas are rare. In a structure which is subject to direct observation by both patient and physician, as is the iris, it is unlikely that such tumors, when present, escape notice, and therefore their rarity is probably absolute. However, not all the tumors described as leiomyomas are acceptable as such, since without special stains it is often impossible to differentiate them from nonpigmented melanomas. Several of the earlier cases reported are unacceptable for this reason. Thus, when Verhoeff,1 in 1923, reviewed the literature on this subject he accepted only 2 tumors of the iris as being true leiomyomas, rejecting the remainder on the basis of (or lack of) microscopic description and photomicrographic evidence. The first of the accepted cases was reported in 1899 by Thompson2 and the second in 1911 by van Duyse.3 Verhoeff described 1