

SYPHILIS 229 



would appear that a comparatively large amount of blood is 

 necessary for the growth of this organism, and even sub-cultures 

 on the ordinary media, including blood -serum media, give 

 negative results. Inoculation of the ordinary laboratory animals 

 is not attended by any result, but it has been found that some 

 monkeys are susceptible, small ulcerations being produced by 

 superficial inoculation, and in these the organism can be demon- 

 strated. Tomasczewski cultivated the organism for several 

 generations, and reproduced the disease by inoculation of the 

 human subject. The causal relationship of this bacillus must 

 therefore be considered as completely established, and the con- 

 ditions under which it grows show it to be a strict parasite a 

 fact which is in conformity with the known facts as to the 

 transmission of the disease. 



SYPHILIS. 



Up till quite recent times practically nothing of a definite 

 nature was known regarding the etiology of syphilis. Most 

 interest for a long time centred around the observations of 

 Lustgarten, who in 1884 described a characteristic bacillus, 

 both in the primary sore and in the lesions in internal organs. 

 This organism occurred in the form of slender rods, straight, or 

 slightly bent, 3 to 4 /x in length, often forming little clusters 

 either within cells or lying free in the lymphatic spaces ; it took 

 up basic aniline dyes with some difficulty, but was much more 

 easily decolorised by acids than the tubercle bacillus. 



Lustgarten stained the tissues for twenty-four to forty-eight hours 

 in aniline-water solution of gentian violet ; and then, after washing 

 them in alcohol, placed them for ten seconds in a 1'5 per cent solution 

 of permanganate of potassium. They were then treated with sulphurous 

 acid, which removes the brown precipitate formed, and decolorises the 

 sections. They were then washed in water, dehydrated, and mounted. 



Much controversy arose regarding the significance of this 

 bacillus. Some considered it to be the tubercle bacillus, whilst 

 others supposed that it was the smegma bacillus which had 

 invaded the tissues. The etiological relationship of the organism 

 to the disease was, however, not generally accepted, and in view 

 of the recent work on syphilis, the organism cannot be regarded 

 as having any pathological importance. 



Spirochsete pallida. An entirely new light has been thrown 

 on the etiology of the disease by the work of Schaudinn and 

 Hoffmann which appeared in 1905. Since their first publication 

 a great amount of work has been undertaken in order to test 



