EDITORIAL. 



DISCUSSIONS OF THE PAPERS OF MR. CLEGG AND OF 

 DRS. ROGERS, AND NICHOLS AND ANDREWS.' 



Dr. Oscar Teague, assistant. Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science: 

 1 have had the pleasure of following Mr.^Clegg's work from day to day 

 and feel convinced that the acid-fast bacillus wliich he has placed under 

 the microscopes for demonstration is really undergoing multiplication on 

 his amoeba-plates. The fact that acid-fast bacilli are rare in the intestine 

 renders it unlikeW that the bacillus in question is a contamination which 

 wandered from the intestine by way of the blood into the spleen. As 

 mentioned by Mr. Clegg the cultivation of an acid-fast organism of 

 similar morpholog}' from the spleen of a second case, and the failure to 

 find this organism in control plates furnish additional evidence against 

 contamination. 



Dr. R. P. Strong, chief Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science, 

 Manila, P. I., arid professor of tropical medicine: I have had, of course, 

 an opportunity to observe carefully Mr. Clegg's work. As most of you 

 are aware, wc have no definite means of identifying the leprosy bacillus 

 outside of the human body. The morphology and the staining reactions 

 of this organism are the most definite features in its recognition. Its 

 failure to multiply on artificial media has also been regarded as an 

 important means of differentiating it from Bacillus tuhrrculosis. 



Although very numerous attempts have been made to cultivate tlie 

 Bacillus lepra on artificial media, and a number of successful reports of 

 such cultivations have been nuide, I think we are justified in saying that 

 up to the present time no satisfactory means of its cultivation has l>een 

 discovered. However, no one l)efore has reported any attempt to culti- 

 vate the leprosy bacillus in symbiosis with amoebae. This is a new idea, 

 and while it is still too early to speak with absolute certainty, yet it 

 would appear that Mr. Clegg has been successful in cultivating this 

 organism. 



It is true that after a few transplants of his cultures the morphology 

 of the acid-fast organism docs not resemble closely in morphology the 

 leprosy bacillus as we see it in the human lesions. But as Mr. Clegg 



' Held before the Si.xth Annual Meeting of tlie Philippine Islands Medical 

 Association, February 11, 1909. 



141 



