CULTIVATION OF THE SPIROCH^ETE PALLTDA 507 



tion has been made within so short a^" period after the death of 

 the child as to practically exclude the possibility of contamina- 

 tion from without. It also abounds sometimes on mucous 

 surfaces, e.</. of the bladder and intestine in cases of congenital 

 syphilis. The enormous numbers of the organism which may 

 be present in a well preserved condition in macerated foetuses 

 render it probable that the organism may multiply in the dead 

 tissues under anaerobic conditions. Although various organisms 

 may be associated with it in the lesions of the skin or mucous 

 membranes, then- is agreement amongst observers that this 

 organism occurs alone in syphilitic lesions where the entrance 

 of bacteria, etc., from outside is excluded. The high per- 

 centage of cases in which it is found would, in view of the 

 (lilliculty in detecting it, point to 

 its invariable presence, and, as a ^|J 



matter of fact, Schaiidinn in his 



last .series of cases, numbering over jm * 



seventy, found it in all. Shortly 

 after the discovery of the organism, . 

 Metclmikott' was able to detect it in m 



the lesions produced in monkeys by 

 inoculation with material derived 

 from syphilitic sores, and his obser- 

 vations have since been confirmed. 

 Another question of considerable 



importance is, as to whether this Fj(; K(( . Bpiro6hlete ren . ingens 

 organism has been found in other In film preparation from a ewe 

 conditions. Observations show of balanilis. xlOOO. 

 that in various conditions, such as 



ulcerated carcinomata, balanitis, etc., spirochaetes are of com- 

 paratively common occurrence. There is no doubt whatever 

 that the great majority of these are readily distinguishable by 

 their appearance from the spirochsete pallida, but others re- 

 semble it closely. Hoti'mann, however 1 , who has seen many of 

 these spirocha-tes from other sources, considers that even by 

 their microscopic api>earance they are capable of being distin- 

 -uMied, though with considerable difficulty. It must, of course, 

 be borne in mind that the finding of an organism in non-syphilitic 

 lesions with the same microscopical characters does not show 

 that it is the same organism as the spirochaete pallida. 



Cultivation. Although numerous attempts have been made, 

 it has not yet been found possible to obtain pure cultures of the 

 -pirochsBte pallida outside the body. Levaditi and Mclntosh 

 inoculated with syphilitic material sacs of collodion containing 



