526 SYPHILIS 



and the etiological relationship of the organism to the disease 

 may now be regarded as established. Nichols has shown that 

 a framboesia lesion can be produced in the testicle of the rabbit 

 of similar character to the syphilitic lesion, though the period 

 of incubation is shorter. He finds that the best means of dis- 

 tinguishing the two diseases is afforded by inoculating the skin 

 of the monkey. In the case of syphilis the resulting lesion is 

 flat, dry, and very scaly ; in the case of framboesia it is elevated, 

 slightly scaly, and very cedematous; here also the period of 

 incubation is shorter in the case of framboesia. The immunity 

 reactions in monkeys infected with syphilis and framboesia, as 

 experimentally studied by Castellani and by Neisser, Baermann, 

 and Halberstadter, go to show that the two diseases are distinct. 

 Nichols obtained a corresponding result in the case of the rabbit, 

 as he found that this animal, when cured of a syphilitic lesion 

 of the testicle by means of salvarsan, was susceptible to framboesia 

 but not to syphilis. On the other hand, Levaditi and Nattan- 

 Larrier found that, although monkeys infected with syphilis 

 were refractory to framboesia (Fr. pian), monkeys infected with 

 framboesia were susceptible to syphilis : they therefore concluded 

 that framboesia is a modified or mild form of syphilis. We may 

 add that patients suffering from framboesia generally give a positive 

 Wassermann reaction ; they are also very amenable to treatment 

 with salvarsan (Alston and others). The exact relationship of 

 the two diseases cannot be yet accurately defined, but they are 

 probably distinct, though undoubtedly closely related. 



