LEPROSY. 251 



these appeared on serum (to which a quantity of glycerine 

 had been added) that was maintained at a temperature of 

 37 C. These he described as delicate, thin, slightly yellow 

 films with irregular borders ; on glycerine agar they are said 

 to have developed as small grey rounded isolated points 

 usually at the end of ten days or a fortnight ; secondary 

 cultivations, however, made their appearance at the end of 

 forty- eight hours, and after the first few cultivations the 

 organism could be grown on serum or on ordinary gelatine 

 and agar, but much more slowly than when glycerine had 

 been added. From the general description, and the im- 

 perfect staining obtained, some doubt must remain as to the 

 true nature of these bacilli. Babes also was able to obtain 

 cultivations on similar media, even from other organs ; he 

 described the growths as being very like those of diphtheria ; 

 upon serum they appeared as pale yellow elevated plates, 

 glistening and waxy-looking and surrounded by a transparent 

 indented zone ; the cultures emitted a peculiar characteristic 

 odour. They developed all along the track of the needle, 

 especially in glycerine gelose ; the rods were elongated, but 

 there appeared to be a number of involution forms, and 

 many of the bacilli were much more plump than usual, and, 

 bearing out Unna's observations, they appeared to Be sur- 

 rounded by a clear capsule somewhat similar to that met 

 with around Friedlander's pneumonia organism. Babes was 

 not successful in making secondary cultivations, nor was he 

 able to produce the disease by inoculating with his cultiva- 

 tions any of the animals that he had in his laboratory. 

 Until these experiments are confirmed by other observers 

 they can scarcely be accepted as conclusive, as it requires a 

 much longer series of successful cultivations and more 

 careful comparison of the organism as it appears in the 

 tissues with that found in the cultures, than either Bor- 

 doni UfTreduzzi or Babes have made, to set the matter 

 at rest. Still they have indicated the lines on which future 

 work may be done, and we may anticipate that before long 

 Dr. Bevan Rake, Dr. Castor and others, may continue their 

 experiments with the enormous amount of material which 

 they have at their disposal and give to the world most im- 

 portant results. 



None of the numerous non-bacillary theories as yet put 

 forward to account for leprosy appear to be sufficiently well 



