286 PUBLIC HEALTH BACTERIOLOGY 



tubercle bacillus in size and in acid-fastness. These bacilli 

 usually stain uniformly, not showing beading. They are 

 non-motile, non-flagellar, and non-sporing. They have 

 not been successfully cultivated, and attempts to inoculate 

 animals have failed. They are readily stained by Gram's 

 method. They are found in large numbers in the cutaneous 

 lesions of tubercular leprosy, and occur for the most part 

 within the protoplasm of the round granulation tissue 

 cells. They are also found in the lymphatic glands, and 

 in smaller numbers in the liver and spleen. The spread of 

 the disease is by the lymphatics. The earliest lesion is 

 usually a nasal ulcer at the junction of the bony and 

 cartilaginous septum. In the anaesthetic form, or nerve 

 leprosy, the bacilli are found in the diffuse infiltrations in 

 the nerves, rarely in the trophic lesions resulting. Lepers 

 react to tuberculin, and 50 per cent are said to give the 

 Wassermann reaction. The nasal mucus and saliva (in a 

 less degree) are the vehicles by which the disease is spread. 

 Diagnosis. Animal inoculation is negative. 



ACTINOMYCOSIS, OR THE RAY FUNGUS DISEASE. 



Actinomycosis is a disease of cattle and man. lit 

 occasionally affects sheep, dogs, cats, and horses. Its 

 usual sites are the regions of the face, mouth, and pharynx. 

 In cattle, the lower jaw is most frequently affected, the 

 disease taking the form of tumour formation, the so-called 

 " lumpy jaw." The tumours are often nodulated and 

 consist of fibrous tissue with irregular abscess cavities 

 throughout . When an abscess discharges, the pus is of 

 a yellowish-green colour, slimy in character, and contains 

 small granular bodies, visible to the eye and distinctly 

 palpable, and of a pale sulphur colour. These granules 

 are found on examination to be composed of rosette-like 

 masses of the fungus actinomyces, or ray fungus, first 

 described by Boellinger in 1877. It is now classed among 

 the trichomycetes or higher bacteria, and by some as a 

 true mould ; that is, forms composed of threads which 

 show true branching and multiply by spore-shaped bodies, 

 which usually appear in chains the gonidia or spores. 

 (Madura foot, or mycetoma, is similar in nature to actino- 

 mycosis.) 



