130 APPLIED BACTERIOLOGY 



into which to expectorate is not at hand, it may be received 

 into rags, which should be burned without being allowed to 

 dry. Handkerchiefs of paper are now made at a trifling 

 cost, specially intended for the use of phthisical patients. 



Eooms and wards occupied by phthisical patients should 

 be disinfected either as previously described or by rubbing 

 them with half-baked bread, and precautions should be 

 taken to prevent the accumulation of dust and its dis- 

 semination throughout the atmosphere ; that is to say, 

 when sweeping or dusting is to be carried out, the floor 

 should be liberally sprinkled with wet tea-leaves. There 

 should be no unnecessary ledges or hangings on which dust 

 can accumulate. 



Some medical officers in this country are now making it 

 a practice to disinfect after cases of phthisis, and this pro- 

 cedure is greatly to be recommended. 



LEPROSY. 



Discovery and morphology of the organism — Staining in sections — Dis- 

 tribution of the bacilli in the body — Growth on artificial media — 

 Conveyance of disease — Leprosy in India Commission Report — 

 Occurrence and distribution — Pathogenesis — Preventive measures. 



The Bacillus leprcs was first described by Hansen in 

 1880. The organism is a small rod, the length of which is 

 half to three-quarters the diameter of a blood-corpuscle. 

 The bacillus is straight or slightly bent, with more or less 

 pointed extremities, and it is not quite so large as the 

 tubercle bacillus. Within the protoplasmic contents may 

 he seen clear spaces (which some authorities believe to be 

 endogenous spores), surrounded by a delicate membrane. 



It is devoid of motility. The leprosy bacillus is stained 

 in the same manner as the tubercle bacillus by the Ziehl- 

 Neelsen method, as follows : 



