762 Syphilis 



from all other lesions, they looked upon it as the specific organism 

 of the disease. The other spiral organism being readily stained was 

 easy to find and was present in both syphilitic and non-syphilitic 

 cases. They called it Spirochaeta refringens (q.v.) and looked upon 

 it as an accidentally present complicating organism. 



The discovery was quickly confirmed by Metschinkoff* and Rouxf 

 who upon examining the secretions from the lesions of experi- 

 mental syphilis in apes and monkeys, always found the Spirochaeta 

 pallida, though they did not always find any other micro-organism. 



A voluminous confirmatory literature quickly sprung up, and the 

 Spirochffita pallida became universally accepted as the cause of 

 syphilis. 



For various reasons, chief among which are the relative rigidity 

 of this organism, as compared with the spirochaeta, and the absence 

 of any vestige of an undulating membrane, the organism is now trans- 

 ferred by most writers from the genus Spirochaeta to a new genus 

 Treponema. However, as Schaudinn and Hoffmann first placed it 

 among the spirochaeta, no inconsiderable number" of writers con- 

 tinue to adhere to the original nomenclature. 



Morphology. — The organism is a slender, closely coiled spiral, 

 usually showing from eight to ten uniform undulations, but occa- 

 sionally being so short as to show only two or three, or so long as to 

 show as many as twenty. It is flexible, but does not bend itself. 



It is very slender, measuring from 0.33 to 0.5 fj. in breadth to 3.5 

 to 15.5 /* in length (Levaditi and Mcintosh). 



It forms no spores. Multiplication seems to take place by longi- 

 tudinal division. 



It is motile, and when observed alive with a dark field illuminator, 

 can be seen to rotate slowly about its longitudinal axis at the same 

 time that it slowly sways from side to side. The organism is. pro- 

 vided with a flagellum at one end, sometimes one at each end. 



Noguchi} observed two t3^es of treponema, one slender, one 

 stouter. When carried through culture and used to inoculate rabbits 

 their differences were^found to be fairly constant. The lesions pro- 

 duced in rabbit's testicles varied with the variety of organism in- 

 oculated, one causing a diffuse, the other a nodular, orchitis. He 

 conjectured that the distinction may be of value in explaining certain 

 obscure points in human syphilis. 



Staining. — I. Films. — The original discovery of the organisni 

 was achieved through the employment of Giemsa's stain — a modifi- 

 cation of the Romanowsky method. But by this method the organ- 

 isms appeared very pale and not very numerous. Goldhorn§ im- 

 proved it as follows: 



* "Bull. Acad, de med. de Paris," May 16, 1905. 



t "Ann. de I'lnst. Pasteur," 1905, xrx, 673. 



J "Journal of Experimental Medicine," 1912, xv, No. 2, p. 201. 



§ Ibid., 1906, VIII, p. 451. 



