DISEASES CAUSED BY SPOROCH^TES 869 



unlike the more regularly steep waves of Spirochaeta pallida. They 

 are stained with even more difficulty than are the bacilli and usually 

 appear less distinct in the preparations. The stain, however, is 

 taken without irregularity, showing none of the metachromatism ob- 

 served in the bacilli. 



By the earlier observers cultivation of these microorganisms was 

 attempted without success. Recently, however, it has been shown 

 that cultivation could be carried out under anaerobic conditions. 

 Tunnicliff 54 has cultivated the organisms anaerobically upon slants 

 of ascitic agar at 37.5 C. This observer found that in such cultures, 

 before the fifth day, bacilli only could be found, that after this 

 time, however, spirilla gradually appeared and finally constituted 

 the majority of the organisms in the culture. It appeared to Tun- 

 nicliff from this study that the spirilla might be developed out of 

 the fusiform microorganisms representing the adult form. This, 

 howevr, is an error. 



The microorganisms of Vincent's angina, when occurring in the 

 throat, are rarely present alone, being usually accompanied by other 

 microorganisms, such as staphylococci, streptococci, and not infre- 

 quently diphtheria bacilli. When occurring together with diph- 

 theria, they are said, by some German observers, to aggravate the 

 latter condition considerably. This frequent association with other 

 microorganisms renders it impossible to decide conclusively that the 

 fusiform bacilli and spirilla are the primary etiological factors in 

 these inflammations. It has been frequently suggested that they 

 may be present as secondary invaders upon the soil prepared for 

 them by other microorganisms. 



Animal inoculation with these microorganisms has led to little 

 result. 



Fusiform Bacilli other than those in Vincent's Angina. Fusiform 

 bacilli morphologically indistinguishable from those found in the angina of 

 Vincent may frequently be found in smears taken from the gums, from 

 carious teeth, and occasionally among the microorganisms in the pus from 

 old sinuses. Several varieties of these bacilli have been described in con- 

 nection with definite pathological conditions. 



Babes, 55 in 1893, observed spindle-shaped bacilli not unlike those described 

 above, but somewhat shorter, in histological sections prepared from tissues 

 from the gums of individuals suffering from scurvy. He found similar bacilli 



54 Tunnicliff ', Jour, of Infec. Dis., 3, 1906. 

 56 Babes, Deut. med. Woch., xliii, 1893. 



