Bacillus of Lustgarten 373 



twenty-four hours at the temperature of the room, or for two 

 hours at 40 C. ; washed for a few minutes in absolute alco- 

 hol; immersed for about ten seconds in a 1.5 per cent, per- 

 manganate of potassium solution, then placed in an aqueous 

 solution of sulphurous acid for one or two seconds, thor- 

 oughly washed in water, dehydrated in alcohol, cleared 

 in oil of cloves, and finally mounted in Canada balsam 

 dissolved in xylol. 



If pus or other discharges from syphilitic lesions are to be 

 examined, the cover-glasses spread with the material are 

 stained in the same manner, except that for the first washing 

 distilled water instead of absolute alcohol is used. 



This method underwent a modification in the hands of 

 De Giacomi,* who preferred to stain the cover-glasses in a 

 hot anilin-water-fuchsin solution for a few moments, or 

 sections in the same solution (cold) for twenty-four hours; 

 then immerse them first in a weak, then in a strong solution 

 of chlorid of iron. The cover-glasses are washed in water 

 (sections in alcohol) and subsequently passed through the 

 usual reagents for dehydration and clearing. 



By these methods of staining some syphilitic tissues are 

 found to contain bacilli closely resembling the tubercle 

 bacillus. They are about the same size, are distinctly 

 curved, and often present club-like enlargements of one 

 end (involution-forms?). The bacilli occur singly and in 

 groups. They never lie free in the interspaces of the tissue, 

 but are always inclosed in cells, in this respect resembling 

 those of leprosy. The bacilli are not always to be found 

 in syphilitic lesions, nor is their demonstration easy under 

 the most favorable circumstances. Lustgarten emphasizes, 

 particularly, that they are only demonstrable after the most 

 painstaking technical procedures. 



The probable specificity of Lustgarten 's bacillus was 

 lessened by the observation by Matterstock, f Alvarez, J 

 and Tavel, that preputial and vulvar smegma taken from 

 healthy individuals commonly contained an organism 

 similar both in morphology and staining. The occurrence 

 of Lustgarten 's bacillus in lesions of the internal organs 

 could not but argue against the probability of its identity 

 with the smegma bacillus; but Lustgarten himself pointed 



* Baumgarten's " Jahresberichte," 1885, p. 96. 



f"Mitt. med. Klin. Wiirzburg," 1885. 



f " Archiv de Physiol. normal et Path.," 1885. 



