BACILLUS SMEGMATIS. 135 



A very useful method of diagnosis for physicians who wish 

 to make a speedy and positive proof of leprosy, and have no 

 microtome or laboratory facilities, is to remove a bit of skin 

 or scraping near a tubercle or nodule and place the same in a 

 mortar with some saline solution and triturate until a homo- 

 geneous solution results, adding from time to time enough 

 saline solution to prevent drying. A small quantity of this 

 emulsion is transferred to a clean cover-glass, air-dried, and 

 fixed over a flame, stained with the Ziehl carbol-fuchsin for 

 five minutes, then washed in water, counterstained, and de- 

 colorized with Gabbett's solution of methylene-blue and sul- 

 phuric acid for two minutes, washed again in water, dried, 

 and mounted in Canada balsam. The bacilli will appear red, 

 while the rest of the tissue will be stained blue. 



SYPHILIS. 



Bacillus Smegmatis (formerly called the Bacillus of 



Syphilis). 



History. In 1884-1885 Lustgarten described a bacillus 

 which he had discovered in the primary sore and secondary 

 manifestations of syphilis. Rarely could this bacillus be 

 found in the tertiary stages of the disease. 



In size and shape the bacillus very closely resembles that 

 of tuberculosis, but differs from it especially in its cultural 

 peculiarities and also in its staining properties with the anilin 

 dyes. For instance, the bacillus could not be cultivated on 

 any of the artificial media, not even on those on which the 

 .Bacillus tuberculosis could be made to grow ; and in staining 

 the Bacillus smec/matis it showed considerable difficulty in tak- 

 ing up the anilin colors, yet when stained according to Ehr- 

 lich's or ZiehPs method it very quickly parted with its colors 

 when washed in mineral acids, especially sulphuric acid, con- 

 trary to what happens in the case of the Bacillus tuberculosis. 

 When decolorized, however, by means of alcohol the Bacillus 

 smcamatix retained the dye tor a considerable time. 



For the staining of sections the following method is recom- 

 mended : Place the section in a cold solution of anilin-wator 



