﻿rx, B, 3 Johnston: The Bacteriology of Leprosy 229 



in Plate I, b. These are, at first, nonacid fast; after six to 

 seven months a few will be noted as retaining the fuchsin 

 slightly, others will not stain at all either with the original 

 stain or the counterstain, and after a year there will be found 

 scattered clumps of distinctly acid-fast bacilli occurring as 

 isolated individuals and rods still inclosed in the parent hypha 

 (Plate I, c). 



In the latter part of February, 1913, several 48-hour cul- 

 tures of this streptothrix were rubbed up in a mortar and a 

 number of guinea pigs and rabbits were inoculated with this 

 suspension. The rabbits were all inoculated with 1 cubic centi- 

 meter intravenously; the guinea pigs, with 0.5 cubic centimeter 

 subcutaneously in each groin. Of this series, 1 animal died 

 while 3 animals are still alive; the others, numbering 16, 

 were killed at varying periods from a week up to six months. 

 No lesions were discovered post mortem in the series of animals 

 killed. The guinea pig dying in September, however, showed a 

 slightly enlarged liver with a few scattered nodules on the under- 

 surface. There was no glandular enlargement. Smears from 

 the cut surface of several of the nodules showed no organisms, 

 but many small rounded masses from 3 to 6 microns in greatest 

 diameter were visible; these were distinctly acid fast. I have 

 noted similar masses in the juice expressed from a leproma, in 

 scrapings from a nasal ulcer in a leper, and also in old cultures 

 of the streptothrix. Some of these bodies had frayed-out edges, 

 and resembled blood plates as we sometimes see them. 



Nine days after, cultures made from these nodules showed in 

 two tubes of placental agar a slight whitish growth of about 

 the consistency of cream cheese. It was spreading, did not 

 grow in the water of condensation, and at the end of four weeks 

 covered the surface of the slant. Stained preparations from 

 these cultures showed long and short rods which were distinctly 

 acid fast. Growth in bouillon was slow, and mostly at the 

 bottom; there was occasional pelicle formation. Marked club- 

 bing occurred, as seen in Plate I, d, e, and /. In bouillon the 

 bacillary forms show a tendency to lose the acid-fast property; 

 this is regained, however, on transfer to either placental agar 

 or Dorset egg plus 1 per cent glycerin. All of the clubbed 

 forms are distinctly acid fast. 



In April a second series of animals was inoculated as before. 

 One of the guinea pigs developed a pussy discharge from its 

 left eye eight days after inoculation. Stained smears showed 

 enormous quantities of acid-fast bacilli. Cultures from this 



