THE SMEGMA BACILLUS 339 



retain their acid- fast properties ; on potato it forms 

 minute (0-5-1 mm.) greyish colonies. It has been sug- 

 gested that the syphilis bacillus of Lustgarten is identical 

 with the smegma bacillus ; neither is decolorised by 

 Lustgarten's permanganate method, but while the smegna 

 bacillus after staining is with difficulty decolorised by 

 acid, and is easily decolorised by alcohol, the reverse is 

 the case with Lustgarten's bacillus. 



Staining and Differentiation 



Film preparations of smegna may be stained in exactly the same 

 manner as for tubercle, after treating the preparations with ether 

 to get rid of fatty material. 



The urine should be drawn off with a catheter when it is to be 

 examined for the tubercle bacillus ; this will generaUy exclude the 

 smegma bacillus. Young and Churchman l conclude that the 

 smegma bacillus is a scant invader of the male urethra, and that 

 by washing the glans and irrigation of the urethra it may be 

 eliminated from the urine. 



If there is reason to suspect the presence of the smegma bacillus 

 when staining for tubercle, Bunge and Tranteroth 2 recommend 

 that the film specimens should be treated as follows : 



(1) Immerse in absolute alcohol for three hours. 



(2) Immerse in 5 per cent, chromic acid for fifteen minutes. 



(3) Stain in warm carbol-fuchsin. 



(4) Decolorise in 25 per cent, sulphuric acid for two to three 

 minutes. 



(5) Counter-stain in a concentrated alcoholic solution of methyl- 

 ene-blue for five minutes. 



The smegma bacillus will be decolorised by this method (see also 

 p. 329). 



Coles recommends (Journal of State Medicine, vol. xii, 

 1904, p. 225) the following staining method : 



(1) Spread thin and even films on slides, and fix by heat, in the 

 ordinary way. 



1 Johns Hopkins Hospital Rep., vol. xiii, 1906, p. 15. 



2 Fortschrit. der Med., xiv, 1896, Nos. 23 and 24. See also ibid. 

 No. 9. 



