CHAPTER VIII 



SYPHILIS AND YAWS 



ONE of the first to mention protozoa in relation to syphilis was 

 Doehle, 1 who, in 1892, described flagellated bodies in the blood in 

 the febrile stages of vaccinia, variola (early fever), measles, scarlet 

 fever, and syphilis. After this the first description of bodies that 

 resembled protozoa in syphilitic tissues was, I believe, that given by 

 myself in 1894. These bodies are represented in Fig. 15, which is 

 reproduced here because it shows some important features. I have 

 quite recently made a camera drawing (Fig. 16) of the main features 

 of the whole extent of another section of the same piece of tissue, 

 and a careful detailed camera drawing (Fig. 17) of the part of this 

 section which most plainly shows the features to which I wish to 

 draw attention. 2 



The portion of tissue was removed from the edge of a spreading 

 secondary syphilitic ulcer. The part of the section shown in detail 

 in Fig. 17 corresponds to the part marked ' 2, gregarinoid bodies ' 

 in Fig. 16. The part of the ulcer marked ' 3 ' contains cavities, 

 only two of which are indicated. These cavities contain massed 

 groups of leucocytes, which are altogether wanting in the part 

 shown in Fig. 17. Without going into any great detail as to the 

 features presented in Fig. 17, one point must be insisted upon viz., 

 that normal nuclei such as b, and nuclei undergoing degeneration, 



1 P. Doehle, 'On the Etiology of Measles, Small-pox, Scarlet Fever, and 

 Syphilis,' Cent, fur Bakt.^ 1892, p. 906. 



2 For permission to use the blocks of Figs. 16 and 17, I am indebted to the 

 Editor of the Transactions of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, where I 

 demonstrated the specimens on January 8, 1907. 



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