Bacillus of Syphilis.—The first investi gator whose labors received any partic ular attention was Lustgarten, who claimed to have discovered in micro scopical sections of chancre and syph iloma bacilli characterized by their color, reaction, form, and relative position. These bacilli he described as slim, straight, or somewhat curved little rods, closely resembling tubercle bacilli. He claimed that by his method of coloring he could differentiate the bacilli of syph ilis from those of lepra and tuberculosis especially, and from all other known pathogenic bacteria. The bacillus of Lustgarten, according to its discoverer, acts by incorporating itself with the white blood-corpuscles. Neisser favors the ba cillus theory of syphilis. Ehrlich and Birch-Hirschfeld also advocate it. Blebs, Aufrecht, Bergmann, and, following them, Bardozi, assert the existence of a peculiar micrococcus in the lymphatic glands and vessels of syphilitics.
Pure culture of micro-organisms per sonally obtained from syphilitic tissue, and especially from the blood, which, when inoculated into animals. presented a reaction to human syphilis. When these cultures were injected into the veins of pigs, or inserted subcutaneously, there developed at the point of in jection a hard inactive sore, and eight or ten 'days after the injection there appeared on the skin of the animal numerous bright-red spots, which dis appeared after about a week. Rabbits developed at the site of injection similar hard sores. Two of these rabbits were paired, and the female gave birth to a litter of seven, all dead, and two of them, being macerated, greatly resembled in this respect syphilitic human embryos. The cultures were obtained especially from the marrow and epiphyseal lines of the bones of children who had died from hereditary syphilis. The material was preserved in bouillon, and then grown in various media. In almost every instance there was found a variety of streptobacilli or streptococci which had been previously obtained from the blood of patients suffering from dementia para lytica and tabes syphilitica. The bacilli can best be obtained from the blood, after the administration of mercury for a short time during the tertiary period. In the secondary period less success was secured in obtaining germs from the blood, which was thought to be due to the fact that at this period they lie chiefly in the skin. Von Niessen (Centralb. f. innere Med., May 7, '95).
The blood of 125 syphilitics examined and the examinations checked by Pro fessor PaRaul, who indorsed conclusion that the organism described is perhaps the specific germ of syphilis.
Even during the first four or five weeks changes cannot he noticed in recently in fected individuals. When the disease is progressing the lymphatic glands are swelling and the general condition of the patient is growing worse; the bodies often appear in the blood before the ex antbema is developed. This statement
is of essential importance.
If a fresh drop of blood is placed on a sterilized slide, covered with a sterilized glass, and examined with 7,, immersion Zeiss or Reichert and an ocular No. IV, there are found in the parts of the speci men which do not contain red blood corpuscles long oval bodies about the size of the large, or acidophile, granules of the so-called eosinophile-lencocytes, but less glistening. These bodies can often he found immediately, hut usually they do not appear earlier than after from two to three hours. At first they arc mostly situated within the medics of the fibrinous net-work and do not move. Later on they show a. movement and form chains of 2 or 4. After eight hours from 6 to 10 bodies may be pres ent in one chain, and it is not uncom mon, if the investigation started in the is interrupted by the night, that from 12 to 20 bodies form one chain. V. Neudorfer (St. Paul Med. Jour., July, 1900).
Isolation of a characteristic bacillus from the blood of syphilitics. The blood in each ease was taken from a vein of the arm; in this blood are to be seen the spherical refractile bodies which have been described by other writers, but the nature of which has not been elucidated. The authors believe that the negative results of culture experi ments hitherto have been due to the presence in the coagulated blood of a bactericidal alexin. They have used for culture blood-plasma separated from the serum, and also fluid from blisters, which they state is alexin-free. From these on the ordinary media they al most always obtained a culture; in cases primarily negative they were suc cessful by using the method of culture in a collodion sac. The bacillus is poly morphic, either short or thread-like. The appearances on culture-media are described. The bacillus is pathogenic to guinea-pigs, and produces, locally, an indurated ulcer with swelling of the nearest lymph-glands; the organism was in no ease found in the cadaver. The blood of syphilitic patients added to a three days' old culture of the bacillus causes agglutination of the latter; nor mal serum produces no such effect. In oculation of the bacillus in animals already infected with syphilis was with out effect. From a rabbit inoculated from a culture a large quantity of blood was obtained on the third day; on sepa rating this into plasma and serum cult ures were obtained from the plasma, not from the serum: an observation which supports the theory of an alexin in the serum. This alexin, the authors state, is "fixed" by tile isolated bacillus when the latter is injected into animals al ready infected with syphilitic products. ])c Lille and Jullien (Brit. Med. Jour., from Bull. de l'Acad. de Med., July 2, 1901).