Bacillus Smegmatis 393 



ments of Fermi and Salsano,* who succeeded in increasing 

 its virulence until it became fatal to guinea-pigs by adding 

 glucose and lactic acid to the cultures inoculated. 



BACILLI RESEMBLING THE TUBERCLE BACILLUS. 



It is not improbable that the bacilli of human, bovine, 

 and avian tuberculosis are closely related to one another and, 

 together with a few other micro-organisms of similar mor- 

 phology and staining peculiarities, have a common ancestry 

 and are descended from the same original stock. The 

 most important of these similar organisms are Bacillus 

 leprce (q. v.) t Bacillus smegmatis, and Moeller's grass bacillus. 



BACILLUS SMEGMATIS. 



Alvarez and Tavel,f Matterstock,{ Klemperer and Bittu, 

 Cowie, || and others have described peculiar bacilli in smegma 

 taken from the genitals of man and the lower animals, as well 

 as from the moist skin in the folds of the groin, the axillae, 

 and the anus. They are also sometimes found in urine, and 

 occasionally in the saliva and sputum. 



Morphology and Staining. The organisms are of some- 

 what variable morphology, but in general resemble the tuber- 

 cle bacillus, stain with carbol-fuchsin as does the tubercle 

 bacillus, and resist the decolorant action of acids. They are, 

 however, decolorized by absolute alcohol, though Moeller de- 

 clares the smegma bacillus to be absolutely alcohol-proof, as 

 well as acid-proof, and admits no tinctorial difference between 

 it and the tubercle bacillus. The bacillus, being about the 

 size and shape of the tubercle bacillus, is very readily mis- 

 taken for it, and its presence in cases of suspected tubercu- 

 losis of the genito-urinary apparatus, and in urine and other 

 secretions in which it is likely to be present, may lead to 

 considerable confusion. The final differentiation may have 

 to rest upon animal inoculation. 



Cultivation. The cultivation of the smegma bacillus is 



* "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., xn, 750. 



t " Archiv de Physiol. norm, et Path.," 1885, No. 7. 



J "Mittheil. aus d. med. Klin. d. Univ. d. Wurzburg," 1885, Bd. vi. 



" Virchow's Archives," v, 103. 



|| "Journal of Experimental Medicine," vol. v, 1900-01, p. 205. 



