372 PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS AND ACID-FAST BACILLI 



It has been shown by experiments made by investigators upon them- 

 selves that these butter bacilli are not pathogenic to man. Korn 

 isolated in butter in Freiburg a bacillus now generally known as the 

 Bacillus Freiburgensis. It has nearly the same staining and cultural 

 properties as the other butter bacilli, and is pathogenic for white mice 

 but not for guinea-pigs. 



SMEGMA BACILLUS. 



There occurs on the human skin, particularly in the smegma 

 under the prepuce and between the folds of the labia majora and 

 minora of the female, an acid-fast bacillus which, in connection with 

 human excretions, such as urine, etc., may be confounded with the 

 tubercle bacillus. This acid-fast bacillus is known as the smegma 

 bacillus. According to Frankel and Neufeld there are two varieties: 

 one, called the "tuberculoid," is more slender and stains a bright 

 scarlet red; the other, known as the "diphtheroid," stains more 

 purplish red, and is easier to decolorize than the former. According 

 to Frankel the latter variety only has been grown in artificial cultures. 

 It develops much more rapidly than the tubercle bacillus, and on most 

 of the ordinary media. When these bacilli are cultivated for several 

 generations on artificial media they lose their acid-fast character, and 

 can be easily decolorized. 



THE BACILLUS OF LEPRA IN MAN AND RATS. 



The human disease leprosy, or lepra, is very probably due to an 

 acid-fast bacillus which occurs in enormous numbers in the pathologic 

 lesions of this disease. The bacillus has never been successfully 

 obtained in pure cultures, but certain methods like those of Weil 

 and Clegg bring about a multiplication of lepra bacilli which, however, 

 are not present in pure cultures. The author has seen lepra bacilli 

 multiply by obtaining material from lepra tubercles, inclosing it in 

 collodion sacs and implanting these into the peritoneal cavities of 

 monkeys, where they were left for several weeks. The material 

 became completely softened under these conditions and showed 

 numerous lepra bacilli, which, when inoculated into other monkeys, 

 however, failed to produce the typical picture of the disease. Several 

 French authors, however, have claimed that they were able to infect 

 monkeys with human leprosy. 



The bacillus of human leprosy is easier to stain but not as firmly acid- 

 proof as the tubercle bacillus, and it can, therefore, be distinguished 

 from the latter by the following method recommended by Baumgarten : 



To a watch-glassful of distilled water add 5 to 6 drops of a saturated 

 alcoholic solution of fuchsin; allow the cover-glass with the leprous 

 or tuberculous material on it to float on the surface of the stain for 

 six or seven minutes. Decolorize one-quarter of a minute in 10 per 



