﻿228 ^'^6 Philippine Journal of Science 1914 



streptothrix is a type, while others place the tubercle bacillus 

 and closely allied organisms in a special group holding an inter- 

 mediate position between the streptotricheae and the ordinary 

 bacilli. I believe, with Jordan, (3) that the tubercle bacillus and 

 its near allies will eventually prove to be parasitic forms of the 

 higher molds. Foulerton,(4) in 1910, in his Milroy lectures 

 before the Royal College of Physicians, London, mentions 



the apparent affinity between certain undoubted species of Streptothrix and 

 the parasite, or parasites, of tuberculosis. A comparison of the biological 

 characteristics of the recognized streptothrix organisms on the one hand 

 and of different "strains" of the parasite of tuberculosis on the other 

 leaves no doubt as to the correctness of the opinion held by certain earlier 

 pathologists who maintained, within a few years of Koch's announcement 

 of his discovery of the cause of tuberculosis, that the reputed bacillus was 

 not, in fact, a fission fungus at all, but rather belonged to a higher group 

 of mold fungi. 



There is, undoubtedly, a very close relation between leprosy 

 and tuberculosis, and if we accept Foulerton's conclusions as 

 correct in regard to tuberculosis why may not similar ones be 

 true of the organism known as Hansen's bacillus? 



From the spleens of two lepers who died at San Lazaro Hos- 

 pital I have succeeded in cultivating an absolutely nonacid-fast 

 streptothrix. These two strains are apparently identical, and 

 now grow readily on the ordinary glycerin agar, but the original 

 isolations were slow in growth. They were made on placental 

 agar and fish-juice agar, and required from three to four weeks 

 for growth to become apparent. The growth of this organism 

 may be described as spreading, with a tendency toward the 

 formation of small islets with an elevated center. These even- 

 tually coalesce, and the surface growth is dull and more or less 

 rugose. It is pearly white in young cultures, becoming brown 

 in cultures more than four months old. There is a tendency 

 to spore formation in old cultures, as evidenced by the forma- 

 tion of white patches which appear at the uppermost part of 

 the stroke and gradually extend downward to the butt of the 

 tube. The growth is very adherent to the medium, and cannot 

 be removed without bringing medium along with it. 



In bouillon with or without glycerin there is a very scanty 

 growth, and this has a tendency to creep up the sides of the 

 tube and also to collect at the bottom as a powdery sediment. 

 Stained preparations at this stage show long and short threads 

 with a well-marked tendency to branch as shown in Plate I, a. 

 In older cultures, three to four months old, there is tendency for 

 the filaments to break up into coccoid and rodlike forms as seen 



