SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. Ill 



have not been confirmed. Apart from the sexual cycle 

 which they describe, it is clear that if the variations 

 in the form of Sp. pallida described by them really 

 occur, the foundations of the whole theory of its causal 

 connection with syphilis are shaken, resting as they do 

 upon the morphological constancy of this organism, with 

 consequent facility of identification, and its occurrence 

 only in syphilitic lesions. The observations of these 

 writers would point to the existence of forms indistin- 

 guishable from Sp. rejringens and possibly from other 

 organisms. 



Peculiar bodies were found by Krzystalowicz and 

 Siedlecki in the fluid obtained by blistering with the 

 actual cautery over a syphilitic papule; these were 

 much larger than the ordinary spirochaetes and showed 

 irregular undulations and often an enlargement at one 

 end. They were irregular in shape and seemingly 

 amoeboid. Their relationship to Sp. pallida was un- 

 certain. They seem to be the same bodies as were 

 found by Horand, who noted that they were twenty- 

 seven or twenty-eight times the diameter of a red blood- 

 corpuscle and had a head, neck and tail. Babes and 

 Panea also found in a case of congenital syphilis bodies 

 resembling spermatozoa, having an elongated head, i 

 to 2/j. long, and a wavy tail or two tails. They were 

 inclined to doubt whether these were parasites. 



Forms somewhat resembling B. fusiformis were noted 

 by Krzystalowicz and Siedlecki, but they do not seem 

 to have regarded them as bacterial. 



Many attempts have been made to cultivate Sp. pal- 

 lida. Recently success has been obtained by Schere- 

 schewsky and by Miihlens ; and Bruchner and Galacesco 

 state that they inoculated rabbits with cultures and 

 produced syphilis (see p. 33). 



