The microbiology of syphilis / by Elie Metchnikoff ; translated by J. Keogh Murphy.

  • Mechnikov, I. I.
Date:
1908
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The microbiology of syphilis / by Elie Metchnikoff ; translated by J. Keogh Murphy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    excised and the bare surface thoroughly rubbed : the serum which exudes will serve for other film preparations. In the study of tertiary lesions^ material must be removed' from the peripheral parts and not from the mass of the caseous gumma itself. With regard to the vesicles of pemphigus in new- born children and the pustular eruptions in adults, the contents should be removed for making film preparations. The best method of finding the spirilla of syphilis in the blood is that of Noeggerath and Stoehelin.®° The blood of the ear is taken, or, better still, one of the veins of the arm is punctured, and diluted with ten times its volume of a solution of acetic acid of one in a thousand. At least 1 c.c. of blood must be re- moved. The blood diluted in this way should be thoroughly centrifugalized, after which it can be used to make film pre- parations. It is often very important to make a microscopic examination of the juice of glands; this should be removed from the living subject. For this purpose, as Hoffmann has shown, the inguinal region must first be shaved, then disinfected and washed with saline solution. After this the sharp needle of a syringe, holding 5 C.C., is introduced into the inguinal gland, which is fixed in position by the left hand. We should endeavour to pierce one of the largest of the glands and remove its contents by slow aspira- tion. If the gland follows the movement of the needle it proves that the needle is actually in the interior of the gland. After a sufficient quantity of the juice of the gland has been taken away, the syringe is emptied on to a clean plate and the film preparations are made with fine layers of the extracted fluid. In taking material from an autopsy, the technique is so simple that there is no need for any further explanation. The films obtained by these methods should be stained by one of the methods which have been found best in studying the organism of syphilis. Giemsa’s method is the one which, undoubtedly, takes the first place amongst these methods of staining. The films are fixed in strong alcohol and then treated for one or several hours with a mixture composed of a solution of azure blue and eosine. Giemsa’s mixture, ready prepared,
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