﻿IX, B. 3 Schobl: Etiology of Trichomycosis Palmellina 221 



the disease, while in the beginning very few were found or none 

 at all. The cocci showed no tendency to form zoogloea. The 

 examination of an unstained preparation revealed no motile 

 organisms, although Brownian movement was very pronounced. 



MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISEASED HAIR IN TOTO 

 STAINED AND UNSTAINED 



Unstained preparation. — The diseased hair was placed on a 

 slide, suspended in a drop of salt solution, and examined micro- 

 scopically under a cover glass. The foreign matter was found to 

 be scattered along the shaft of the hair in isolated spots or in the 

 latter stage of the disease surrounding the whole length of the 

 shaft, but leaving always the root and, as a rule, the tip of the hair 

 free. It consists of transparent finely granular matter, the 

 outline of the hair being visible within the granular masses. 

 Under high power, distinct nonmotile rod-shaped bacteria were 

 distinguishable on the periphery of the granular aggregations. 



Stained preparation. — The method of Hodara and Spiegler was 

 employed. The hair was first treated with ether to free it 

 from fat, then bleached with peroxide of hydrogen, and stained 

 by Gram's method followed by counterstaining with Van Gie- 

 son's stain. 



On account of the double stain, the bacteria being stained 

 blue in contrast to the yellow-stained hair, the conditions of 

 the hair as already described were much more conspicuous. 

 Small groups of not over 20 bacteria could be seen scattered 

 among the large microbial aggregations. The outside layer 

 of the hair was split off in several places, and streaks of bacteria 

 could be followed into the deeper layers of the hair. This 

 anatomical change of the hair, which could be noticed on 

 specimens untreated with chemicals, would seem to corroborate 

 the theory that mechanical injury precedes the infection. 



Repeated examinations of specimens, taken from time to time 

 from the same patient, revealed all the stages of the pathological 

 process under question. Small groups of bacteria could be 

 found on the still intact cuticula of the hair, while the next 

 focus showed defects of cuticula and bacteria penetrating in 

 the substantia pili. In the latter stage, masses of bacteria 

 were found in the intercellular spaces of the cortical substance. 

 This led to splitting of the hair and to its final disintegration. 

 It is evident that the effect of the bacterial invasion upon the 

 hair is purely mechanical. Primarily, the bacterial grovd;h takes 

 place on the surface of the hair. After the cuticula has been 

 destroyed the bacteria grow in the preformed cavities of the 



