This post is an addendum to two former posts about Geillis Duncan’s madness, which some readers might attribute it to syphilis. Here are the links.
Did Geillis Suffer from Syphilis? Part 1
Did Geillis Suffer from Syphilis? Part 2
The first post was mostly introductory to the topic giving a general overview of syphilis. The second one is more scientific and provides evidence that Geillis most likely did not suffer from it. I concluded that Geillis was mad before she went to the stones. Recently a twitter fellow mentioned to me that you need to be truly mad or courageous to consciously / willingly go through the stones.
When I first published my post concerning this topic at Outlander Book Club, there were some speculations from other readers about how Geillis contracted syphilis. There was the possibility that she probably contracted it from Dougal. However, The Fiery Cross puts to rest this notion. At the gathering, there was a lady who came with her little son to be treated by Claire.
He’d had the characteristic “saddle nose,” with its pushed-in bridge, as well as a jaw so malformed that I wasn’t surprised at his poor nutrition; he could barely chew. I couldn’t tell how much of his evident backwardness was due to brain damage and how much to deafness; he appeared to have both, but I hadn’t tested their extent – there being exactly nothing I could do to remedy either condition. I had advised the mother to give him pot liquor, which might help with the malnutrition, but there was little else to be done for him, poor mite. (Ch. 3)
This quote makes it evident that Geillis did not have syphilis when she became pregnant with Dougal’s child. Both William Buccleigh MacKenzie and his presumed descendant, Roger MacKenzie, do not exhibit characteristics associated with congenital syphilis. As a result, it is likely she was mad before traveling into the past. If she had syphilis, she acquired it from somebody after Dougal. However, it is unlikely she suffered from syphilis since the visual symptoms characteristic of this disease are not present in her.
Thanks for reading!
Excerpt from
Gabaldon, Diana. The Fiery Cross. New York: Bantam Dell. 2001. Print.