CHAPTER XIX. . 
BACILLI SHOWING SIMILAR STAINING REACTIONS TO 
THOSE OF THE TUBERCLE BACILLI —- SYPHILIS 
BACILLUS—SMEGMA BACILLUS—-LEPROSY BACIL- 
LUS—GRASS BACILLI. 
SYPHILIS BACILLUS. 
DiscovEReED by Lustgarten in syphilitic lesions and 
secretions of syphilitic ulcers (1884), and believed by’ 
him to be the specific cause of this disease. It has 
since been shown that in normal smegma from the 
prepuce or the vulva bacilli are found in great abun- 
dance, similar in their morphology to the bacillus of 
Lustgarten, but differing, as a rule, slightly in certain 
staining peculiarities. (See Fig. 39, page 313.) 
Morphology. Straight or curved bacilli, which bear 
considerable resemblance to tubercle bacilli, but differ 
from them in staining reactions. They are from 3 to 
5u long and from 0.2 to 0.3 broad, usually curved 
or bent at a sharp angle, or S-shaped, often thickened at 
one end and irregularly notched. With a high-power 
lens bright, shining spaces in the deeply stained rods 
may be observed; these, from two to four in a single rod, 
are believed by Lustgarten to be spores. The bacilli 
are not usually found free in the tissues, but commonly 
lie singly or sometimes in groups within the interior of 
cells having a round, oval, or polygonal form, and 
apparently somewhat swollen. 
