354 



Leprosy 



Czaplewski found that the bacillus which he cultivated 

 and supposed to be the lepra bacillus stained well with 

 Loffler's methylene-blue, and with the aqueous solutions 

 of the anilin dyes. It also stains by Gram's method, and 

 has the same resisting power to the decolorizing action 

 of mineral acids and alcohol as the lepra bacillus seen 

 in tissue. The young bacilli color homogeneously, but 



Fig. 102. Section of one of the nodules from the patient shown in 

 Fig. 103, stained by the Weigert-Gram method to show the lepra ba- 

 cilli scattered through the tissue and inclosed in the large vacuolated 

 "lepra cells." Magnified 1000 diameters. 



older ones are invariably granular. They are usually 

 pointed at the ends when young, but may be rounded or 

 knobbed when older. The more rapidly the bacillus grows, 

 the longer and more slender it appears. 



Cultivation. Bacillus leprae is a pure parasite and prob- 



