312 BACTERIOLOGY. 



The bacillus of Lustgarten stains with equal diffi- 

 culty as the tubercle bacillus, but is much less resistant 

 to the action of certain decolorizing agents, such as 

 mineral acids, particularly sulphuric acid. It is, as a 

 rule, more resistant to the decolorizing action of alcohol 

 than the smegma bacillus. 



Biological and Pathogenic Properties. Numerous at- 

 tempts have been made to cultivate the bacillus of 

 Lustgarten on artificial media, but without success. 

 The inoculation of animals with syphilitic tissues and 

 secretions has also given only negative results, though 

 in man, as is well known, such inoculation has often 

 taken place, the tertiary products only being non- 

 infectious; but as the bacillus has never been obtained 

 in pure culture, we have no ppsitive information as to 

 its biological characters or pathogenesis. 



Lustgarten' s bacillus has been found in various syph- 

 ilitic tissues and lesions, in beginning sclerosis, in the 

 papules, in condylomata and gummata, and not only 

 in the vicinity of the genitals, but also in the mouth, 

 throat, heart, and brain. No satisfactory experimental 

 evidence has been given of its causative relation to 

 syphilis, but the failure to find other micro-organisms, 

 and the occurrence of these characteristic bacilli in vari- 

 ous parts of the body, would seem to point to their etio- 

 logical importance; while, on the other hand, the long 

 immunity in syphilis, so different from that in any 

 known bacterial disease, casts doubt not only on the 

 status of this bacillus, but also upon the bacterial 

 nature of the micro-organism. The fact that the ba- 

 cilli have been found occasionally in tertiary lesions 

 which, however, are known to possess no infectious 

 property may possibly be explained by the some- 



