766 Sj^hilis 



Distribution. — The Treponema pallidum is not known in nature 

 apart from the lesions of syphihs. It has now been found in all 

 the lesions of this disease and in the blood of syphilitics in larger 

 or smaller numbers. The discovery has greatly modified our ideas 

 of the tertiary stage, for the demonstration of the organisms in its 

 lesions shows them to be undoubtedly contagious. The greatest 

 number of the organisms are found in the tissues — especially the 

 liver — of still-born infants with congenital syphilis. 



Cultivation. — The cultivation of the treponema was first at- 

 tempted by Levaditi'and Mcintosh,* who, deriving the organism 

 from an experimental primary lesion in a monkey (Macacus rhesus), 

 carried it through several generations in collodion sacs inclosed in 

 the peritoneal cavity of other monkeys (Macacus cynomolgus) 

 and in the peritoneal cavity of rabbits. They were unable, how- 

 ever, to secure the treponema in pure culture, having it continually 

 mixed with other organisms from the primary lesion. In the 

 mixture, however, they were able to maintain it for generations 

 and study its morphology and behavior. During cultivation its 

 virulence was lost. 



Schereschewskyt endeavored to cultivate the treponema by 

 placing a fragment of human tissue, containing it, deep down into 

 gelatinized horse-serum. The treponema grew together with the 

 contaminating organism and no pure culture was secured. Muh- 

 lensj and Hof[mann,§ using the same method, succeeded in securing 

 pure cultures of the treponema, but found them avirulent. 



NoguchijII taking advantage of the observations of Bruckner 

 and Galasesco** and Sowade,tt that an enormous multiplication 

 of treponema occurred when material containing it was inoculated 

 into the rabbit's testis, performed a lengthy series of cultivation 

 experiments with the enriched material thus obtained. The 

 culture-medium used in these experiments was a "serum water," 

 composed of i part of the serum of the sheep, horse, or rabbit 

 and 3 parts of distilled water; i6 cc. of this mixture was placed 

 in test-tubes 20 cm. long and 1.5 cm. in diameter and sterilized for 

 fifteen minutes at ioo°C. each day for three days. 



To each of a series of such tubes a carefully removed fragment of sterile rabbit's 

 testis was added, after which the tubes were incubated at 37°C. for two days to 

 determine their sterEity. To each tube the material from the inoculated rabbit's 

 testis, rich in the treponema, is added, after which the surface of the medium in 

 each receives a thick layer of sterile parafi&n oil. As the most strict anaerobiosis 

 is necessary, the tubes are placed in a Novy jar, the bottom of which contains 

 pyrogallic acid. Noguchi first passes H gas through the jar, permitting it to 

 bubble through the pyrogallic acid solution for ten minutes. He then uses a 



* "Ann. de I'lnst. Pasteur," 1907, p. 784. 



t "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1909, xxxv, 835, 1260, 1652. 



t Ibid., 1909, XXXV, 1261. 



§ "Zeitschrift fur Hygiene und Infektionsk.," 1911, ixvui, 27. 



|I "Journal of Experimental Medicine," igri, xw, 99. 

 ** " Compt.-rendu de la Soc. de Biol, de Paris," 1910, txvni, 648. 

 ft "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," i9ir,xxxvii, 682. , ■ 



