202 GONORRHCEA, SOFT SORE, SYPHILIS. 



supposed causal organism outside the body have entirely 

 failed. 



SYPHILIS. 



Regarding the relation of bacteria to this disease, we 

 cannot be said at present to possess much definite know- 

 ledge. Most interest, however, is attached to the observa- 

 tions of Lustgarten, who in 1884 described a characteristic 

 bacillus both in the primary sore and in the lesions in in- 

 ternal organs. He found it in all of sixteen cases which 

 he examined. This bacillus somewhat resembles the 

 tubercle bacillus in shape and size. It occurs in the form 

 of slender rods, straight or slightly bent, about 3 to 

 4 p in length, often forming little clusters either within 

 cells or lying free in the lymphatic spaces. Like the 

 tubercle bacillus it takes up the basic aniline stains with 

 difficulty, but it is much more easily decolorised by mineral 

 acids. Lustgarten stained the tissues for twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours in aniline-water solution of gentian violet ; and 

 then, after washing them in alcohol, placed them for ten 

 seconds in a 1.5 per cent solution of permanganate of 

 potassium. They were then treated with sulphurous 

 acid, which removes the brown precipitate formed, and 

 decolorises the sections. They were then washed in water, 

 dehydrated, and mounted. The observations of other 

 workers have given contradictory results. De Michele 

 and Radice, for example, found Lustgarten's bacilli in the 

 tissues in forty-five out of sixty-four cases examined, while, 

 on the other hand, other observers have failed to find 

 them. 



Apart, however, from negative results obtained by many, 

 criticism has been made in other ways. It has been 

 alleged by some that Lustgarten's bacilli is merely the 

 smegma bacillus which has penetrated the affected tissues. 

 This bacillus, which was first described by Alvarez and 

 Tavel, occurs in the smegma praputiale, and morphologically 

 resembles somewhat the tubercle bacillus, but is more 

 easily decolorised. The above explanation, however, 



