4:04 BACILLI IN CHRONIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



the blood and diseased tissues of syphilitics who have not undergone mer- 

 curial treatment, bacilli which in their form and dimensions resemble the 

 tubercle bacilli, but which stain readily by the common aniline colors and 

 by Gram's method, and are not stained by Lustgarten's method. They grow 

 readily upon solidified blood serum, forming a thin, pale-yellow or brown- 

 ish-yellow layer. Inoculations of pure cultures into apes were without 

 result. The negative results which have attended the culture experiments 

 and microscopical examinations of the blood and diseased*tissues, made by 

 many competent bacteriologists in other parts of Europe, make it appear 

 probable that the bacilli described by the English investigators named belong 

 to some saprophytic species, and that they are not usually present in syphilo- 

 mata or the blood of syphilitic patients. 



MICROCOCCI OF DISSE AND TAGUCHI. . 



Disse and Taguchi (1886) claim to have obtained from the blood of syphi- 

 litics micrococci which they were able to cultivate in artificial media at 20 

 to 40 C., and which formed on the surface of such media a grayish- white 

 layer consisting of diplococci which are motile and of larger motion less cocci. 

 The diplococci are said to originate from division of the larger cocci. Inocu- 

 lations into rabbits, dogs, and sheep gave rise to chronic interstitial inflam- 

 matory processes in the lungs and liver, to granulomata in various organs, 

 and to fatty degenerative changes in the walls of the arteries, which, in the 

 opinion of the authors named, correspond with the pathological changes 

 produced by syphilitic infection in man. We remark, with reference to the 

 supposed etiological relation of this coccus, that bacteriologists in Europe 

 have not confirmed the authors named as to the presence of this micrococcus 

 in the blood of syphilitics, and that the micrococcus of progressive granuloma 

 formation described by Manfredi produces similar pathological changes in 

 inoculated animals ; also that there is no evidence that the animals experi- 

 mented upon are subject to syphilitic irifection. 



58. BACILLUS OF RHINOSCLEROMA (?). 



First observed by Von Frisch (1882) in the newly formed tubercles of 

 rhinoscleroma. Cultivated by Paltauf and Von Eiselberg (1886). 



Rhinoscleroma is a chronic affection of the skin, and especially of the 

 mucous membrane of the nares, which is characterized by the formation of 

 tubercular thickenings of the skin and tumefaction of the nasal mucous 

 membrane, followed sometimes by ulceration. It prevails in Italy, Austria, 

 and to a slight extent in some parts of Germany. Pathologists generally 

 regard it as an infectious process, although this has not been proved. 



The bacilli, first described by Von Frisch, appear to be constantly present 

 in the newly formed tubercles. They are commonly found in certain large 

 hyaline cells peculiar to the disease, and may also be observed in the lym- 

 phatic vessels or scattered about in the involved tissues. 



Morphology. Short bacilli with rounded ends, usually united in pairs, 

 and surrounded by a gelatinous capsule resembling that of Friedlander's 

 bacillus. According to Eisenberg, the bacilli are two to three times as long 

 as broad, and may grow out into filaments. 



These bacilli stain readily with the aniline colors and by Gram's method. 

 The capsule may be demonstrated by the methods usually employed in stain- 

 ing Friedlander's bacillus, or by the following method which is especially 

 recommended by Alvarez: The excised portions of tissue involved in the dis- 

 ease are placed for twenty-four hours in a one-per-cent solution of osmic 

 acid and then in absolute alcohol. When properly hardened thin sections 

 are made; these are stained in a hot solution of aniline-water-methyl-violet 

 for a few minutes, and then decolorized, by Gram's method, in iodine so- 

 lution. 



Biological Characters, A.n aerobic, non-motile, non-liquefying bacillus 

 (facultative anaerobic ?). 



