490 CHAMBERLAIN. 



sometimes blunt and at other times shai'p. The organisms may be straight or 

 slightly curved and are frequently arranged in pairs, end to end. Occasionally 

 wavy forms are seen. They stain readily with carbol-fuchsin, Loeffler's methylene- 

 blue, or Giemsa's stain, and many show irregularity in the intensity of the 

 staining which gives them a quite characteristic banded appearance. They are 

 non-motile. 



The spirilla or spiroehsetae are longer than the bacilli, ranging from 15 to 50 /i 

 in length, and are made up of a variable nimiber of undulations, usually from 

 3 to 5. They are usually very slender and in fresh preparations are extremely 

 active. With the ordinary aniline dyes they stain less intensely than do the 

 fusiform bacilli and occasionally present a beaded appearance as is shown in one 

 of the appended photomicrographs. 



Although several attempts have been made to cultivate these organisms from 

 lesions containing them in great numbers we have been uniformly unsuccessful. 

 They have been grown in pure culture by Weaver and Tunnicliff (5) (9) on slants 

 of ascitic agar ( 1-3 ) and by Peters on Dorset's egg medium, in both cases 

 under anaerobic conditions. Tunnicliff and some others consider that the 

 fusiform bacillus and the spirochastse are different forms of one organism. Some 

 observers consider them to be protozoa. 



In smears from oral and faucial ulcers the symbiotic organisms of 

 Vincent's angina are usually associated with varying numbers of other 

 bacteria, such as staphylococci, streptococci, and different species of 

 bacilli, including the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus. Abel has found the organ- 

 isms in normal mouths, and Grross in apparently healthy tonsils. (5) 

 Some have suggested that to make a diagnosis of Vincent's angina the 

 organisms should be present in preponderating numbers, as compared 

 with other bacteria. (5) Such a distinction is unsatisfactory, but may be 

 of some clinical use and will be to a certain extent adhered to in the 

 following report. 



PRESEN"CE OF THE ORGANISMS IN THROAT AND MOUTH LESIONS IN THE 



PHILIPPINES. 



During the last two years we have examined all patients with throat and 

 mouth lesions who came to our notice in Manila. There were 106 of these, 

 and in the smears from 34 (32 per cent) the fusiform bacilli and spiro- 

 chget* of Vincent's angina were present in preponderating numbers. In 

 22 others (31 per cent) a few of these symbiotic organisms were found, 

 so that in 53 per cent of the total 106 cases they were present to a greater 

 or less extent. The pathologic conditions with which they were associated 

 are shown in the following table. 



