Quotation from: Manual of Surgery

Written by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson


#The Virus of Syphilis.#--The cause of syphilis, whether acquired or
inherited, is the organism, described by Schaudinn and Hoffman, in 1905,
under the name of _spirochaeta pallida_ or _spironema pallidum_. It is a
delicate, thread-like spirilla, in length averaging from 8 to 10
[micron] and in width about 0.25 [micron], and is distinguished from
other spirochaetes by its delicate shape, its dead-white appearance,
together with its closely twisted spiral form, with numerous undulations
(10 to 26), which are perfectly regular, and are characteristic in that
they remain the same during rest and in active movement (Fig. 36). In a
fresh specimen, such as a scraping from a hard chancre suspended in a
little salt solution, it shows active movements. The organism is readily
destroyed by heat, and perishes in the absence of moisture. It has been
proved experimentally that it remains infective only up to six hours
after its removal from the body. Noguchi has succeeded in obtaining pure
cultures from the infected tissues of the rabbit.

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