SYPHILIS. 353 



in vulvar smegma from healthy individuals, a similar 

 organism, identical both in morphology and staining 

 peculiarities, could be demonstrated. Of course the oc- 

 currence of Lustgarten' s bacillus in the internal organs 

 could not but argue against the probability of its identity 

 with the smegma bacillus ; but Lustgarten himself pointed 

 out that the bacilli of both tuberculosis and leprosy stain 

 by his method, and thus gave Baumgarten the right to 

 suggest that the few cases well adapted for the demon- 

 stration of the Lustgarten bacilli might be cases of mixed 

 infection of tuberculosis and syphilis. 



The most recent research upon the bacteriology of 

 syphilis is that of van Niessen, 1 who claims to have cul- 

 tivated a syphilis bacillus from the blood of a few cases. 

 Blood secured from a deep puncture at the end of a 

 thoroughly disinfected finger is caught in a sterile glass, 

 diluted with an equal quantity of distilled water and 

 kept for from ten to fourteen days at a temperature of 

 io°-20° R. (i3°-i5° C). Very often the blood of syphi- 

 litics is found subject to accidental contamination by 

 various well-known bacteria. When this is not the case, 

 however, the serum remains almost perfectly clear and 

 contains a large number of bacilli — syphilis bacilli. The 

 bacillus can be transplanted to bouillon, in which it grows 

 with the production of grayish- white shreds and floating 

 flocculi, some of which are suspended in the liquid, while 

 others form a membrane upon the surface. 



When transplanted to obliquely solidified gelatin and 

 kept at room temperature, in the course of forty-eight 

 hours a very fine, grayish-white, thready mass like 

 cloudy streaks, and having a peculiar reflecting surface, 

 can be seen. Under a lens this is seen to consist of lines 

 of threads which sometimes seem to penetrate into the 

 depths of the gelatin. After a time a layer is formed 

 upon the surface of the medium. Some liquefaction of the 

 medium occurs and causes the growth to slide down upon 



1 Centralbl. f. Bakt. und Parasitenk., Bd. xxiii., No. 2, Jan. 19, 1898, p. 49; 

 No. 344, Jan. 31, 1898, p. 97; and No. 546, Feb. 11, 1898, p. 177. 

 23 



