SYPHILIS BACILL US. 313 



what improbable assumption that the bacilli here 

 present have become attenuated or have died. The 

 finding of saprophytic bacilli the so-called smegma 

 bacilli (Fig. 39 and Plate I., Fig. 4), almost identical 



FIG. 39. 



S 



Smegma bacilli, similar in appearance to syphilis bacilli. X 1000 diam. 



morphologically with the bacillus of Lustgarten, under 

 the prepuce of healthy persons, does not prove the 

 identity of the two bacilli, though in the absence of 

 cultures and inoculation experiments we have not the 

 means of establishing their relationship to one another. 

 The smegma bacilli have never been identified in other 

 parts of the body except in the neighborhood of the 

 genitals. While the bacillus of Lustgarten cannot 

 resist the prolonged decolorizing action of acids, but 

 is resistant to the action of alcohol, the smegma ba- 

 cillus, when stained, is quickly decolorized by alcohol, 

 but quite resistant to 5 per cent, sulphuric acid solution. 

 Beside, the syphilis bacillus has been found in papules, 

 in gummata, and other syphilomata where there seems 

 no probability whatever of the smegma bacillus having 

 emigrated. Baumgarten, who has searched in vain for 

 Lustgarten' s bacillus in uncomplicated visceral syphilo- 



