CHAPTER XIX. 



BACILLI SHOWING SIMILAR STAINING REACTIONS TO 

 THOSE OF THE TUBERCLE BACILLI SYPHILIS 

 BACILLUS SMEGMA BACILLUS LEPROSY BACIL- 

 LUS GRASS BACILLI. 



SYPHILIS BACILLUS. 



DISCOVERED by Lustgarten in syphilitic lesions and 

 secretions of syphilitic ulcers (1884), and believed by 

 him to be the specific .cause of this disease. It has 

 since been shown that in normal smegma from the 

 prepuce or the vulva bacilli are found in great abun- 

 dance, similar in their morphology to the bacillus of 

 Lustgarten, but differing, as a rule, slightly in certain 

 staining peculiarities. (See Fig. 39, page 313.) 



Morphology. Straight or curved bacilli, which bear 

 considerable resemblance to tubercle bacilli, but differ 

 from them in staining reactions. They are from 3 to 

 5// long and from 0.2 to 0.3/* broad, usually curved 

 or bent at a sharp angle, or S-shaped, often thickened at 

 one end and irregularly notched. With a high-power 

 lens bright, shining spaces in the deeply stained rods 

 may be observed; these, from two to four in a single rod, 

 are believed by Lrustgarten to be spores. The bacilli 

 are not usually found free in the tissues, but commonly 

 lie singly or sometimes in groups within the interior of 

 cells having a round, oval, or polygonal form, and 

 apparently somewhat swollen. 



