GENERAL CHARACTERS OF SPIROCILETES. 57 



positive result obtained with the material from a 

 syphilitic foetus. 



YAWS. 



The disease called yaws or pian (Frambcesia tropica) 

 is in many ways like syphilis, going through a primary 

 stage characterised by a local lesion at the point of 

 inoculation, and a secondary stage of generalised 

 phenomena, which take the form of multiple nodular 

 inflammatory lesions or granulomas. It is generally 

 supposed to be a distinct malady, but some writers 

 still maintain that it is only a variety of syphilis. The 

 Sp. pertenuis, first described by Castellani, is supposed 

 to be the causal agent of the disease. It so closely re- 

 sembles Sp. pallida (page 112) that some writers are 

 constrained to argue from the diversity of the two affec- 

 tions to prove the distinct characters of the two para- 

 sites (e.g., Wellmann). 



Schiiffner (who believes in the identity of yaws and 

 syphilis) found the spirochaste present in 98 per cent, of 

 all the cases he examined. Von dem Borne found it in 

 seventy-three of seventy-six non-ulcerated cases: in 

 ulcers it is found along with other kinds of spirochastes. 

 Levaditi and Nattan-Larrier found the organisms on 

 the surface of the primary lesion, in the glands, and in 

 the spleen, but not in the blood. Mclntosh states that 

 the position in which this spirochaete is found in the 

 skin is not the same as that in which Sp. pallida occurs ; 

 Sp. pertenuis being found in the superficial layers 

 of the ulcer, in the fibrinous crust containing leucocytes 

 and degenerated epithelium, whereas Sp. pallida occurs 

 especially in the corium around the blood-vessels. 



LYMPHADENOMA. 



Proescher and White discovered spirochaetes (Sp. 

 lymphatica) present in a case of " lymphosarcoma. " 



