A NEW SPIROCHÆTA FOUND IN HUMAN BLOOD.

102 for an appointment and taking the usual precautions which will suggest themselves to anyone who knows human nature. I am,

Sir, yours faithfully, JOHN COLLIE.

Porchester-terrace, Hyde Park, W., July 7th, 1913.

AN AFFRONT TO PROFESSOR To the Editor

I

those which have been brought forward for other wellof this kind. It is a little surprising to hear that these bodies are well known to most bacteriologists, for at the demonstration to the Pathological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine the only suggestion offered as to their nature was that they were fibrin, and no one ventured to recognise them as products of the red blood I am, Sir, vours faithfully, corpuscles. HELEN CHAMBERS. Royal Free Hospital, July 8th, 1913.

recognised organisms

EHRLICH. The

of THE LANCET.

SIR,—The secretary of the German National Committee, Professor Dr. Posner, of Berlin, has written to me comTo t7te Editor of THE LANCET. ,plaining with some bitterness of a notice in the July number with interest "A New Spirochasta in Human read of the Ophtkcclrmoseope reflecting, as he justly remarks, not SIR,-I " Helen Chambers, which appeared in Blood Dr. but the on Ehrlich on Kaiser himself. The Professor by only THE LANCET of June 21st. As I have observed these ,notice is apparently a translation from a French paper. I should be obliged if you will allow me the opportunity bodies in the blood on numerous occasions I should like to to express my profound regret, firstly, that any insult should refer Dr. Chambers to an article I contributed to the BritisA Medical Journal in 1907 entitled"Observations on even inadvertently have been offered to Professor Ehrlich; .and secondly, that it should have occurred at this particular Fresh Blood Films with Special Reference to Hæmoconia." moment. I am perfectly sure that the editor of the I do so for this reason, that I believe those so-called Ophthalmoscope would be the last to wish to affront so dis- spirochætæ are products of the disintegration of the tinguished a scientist, and I anticipate that at the earliest corpuscular elements of the blood. It is significant that opportunity he will, in the pages of his own journal, express Dr. Chambers states ’’ that the spirochætæ are found in large numbers amongst the corpuscles at the bottom." I believe ,his regret for the occurrence. the reason of this is what I have stated, and notbecause I am, Sir, yours faithfully, this is the only part of the fluid where the conditions are W. P. HERRINGHAM, suitable for growth." This may be perfectly true in a sense, Honorary General Secretary of the Seventeenth International Congress of Medicine. but I believe Dr. Chambers’s deduction is false because of Wimpole-street, W., July 8th, 1913. her premise. I do not deny that those bodies may not possess some characteristics similar to spirochætæ, for I am A NEW SPIROCHÆTA FOUND IN HUMAN convinced that out of one entity another different entity I believe that I could demonstrate that a may develop. BLOOD. diplococcus evolves from a coccus, a bacterium from a To the Editor of THE LANCET. diplococcus. Thus, Friedlander’s bacillus is a further of a pneumococcus. a cladothrix is a further growth growth will be to allow to me good enough SIR,-Perhaps you of a bacterium. reply to some of the criticisms which have been made on The bodies which Dr. Chambers describes I observed ruy communication to THE LANCET of June 21st on the " above subject. The possibility that these "spirochaetse" originally in urine, and I thought that I had discovered a new organism till I found them in blood and discovered were protrusions from the red blood corpuscles or other artefacts was, of course, considered. I decided to call them what I believe to be their true significance. There are spirochaetas for the following reasons : (1) It was frequently other bodies-which have also been mistaken for microobserved that, in addition to local movements, a "spiro- organisms-that are found wherever certain cellular elements chseta" could move across the microscopic field, other bodies are disintegrating-e.g., in lymph, pus, urine, vaccine, &c. where poikilocytosis is -well marked the being relatively stationary ; also that a "spirochasta"could In certainendanaemias is an extrusion from the corpuscle and has the completely alter its position in relation to the red blood pointedof movement. This elongates and is finally detached corpuscles ; (2) some of the thicker forms show a beaded power into one of Dr. Chambers’s thick form of"I spirochoeta,and appearance suggesting accumulations of chromatin; (3) V and Y-shaped forms suggesting longitudinal division are by careful observation this will be found in time to elongate a finer "spirochseta." frequently met with; (4) in cultures, round, spore-like bodies into There is one other statement in Dr. Chambers’s article are to be found attached laterally or to the ends of the " which I should like to refer to as I believe it is of some fail to stain with aniline when ’spirochætæ "; (5) they dyes the red blood corpuscles stain deeply. By the application of interest. "The number of organisms found fluctuates at different times. In those cases examined six weeks ago the a suitable mordant such as tannic or osmic acid they can be blood contained the organism in large numbers ; on many successfully stained ; when stained they are well defined, with pointed or rounded ends, and often show granules subsequent examinations comparatively few were found." These observations I can corroborate, and on considering the staining like chromatin. Now it is well known that all these characters are met reason of these phenomena I came to the conclusion that with in organisms belonging to the spirochæta group.l In when those bodies were most numerous the process of blood within the vessels was at its height, as I considering other possibilities as to the nature of these disintegration motile filaments it must be remembered that they are found believe that process goes on more or less continuously. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, in large numbers in the presence of red blood corpuscles, FREDERICK PORTER. Edinburgh, June 21st, 1913. but when there is no liberation of hæmoglobin, and they cannot therefore be fragments of the framework of broken- down red corpuscles. There are two other possible explanations-(1) that the red blood corpuscles when com- ANGINA PECTORIS AND HEBERDEN’S pressed protrude these filaments ; and (2) that two adjoining CONCEPTION OF IT. corpuscles adhere together, and when they separate a filament forms between which subsequently breaks off. To the Editor of THE LANCET. Neither of these alternatives seems to completely explain the. SIR,-The death of Dr. G. H. R. Dabbs, attended by conditions found. incidents, to which you refer in THE LANCET of pathetic In conclusion, I would like to state that the only claim I June calls to mind the exactions annually levied upon 21st, make for my communication of June 21st is that the of medicine by the angina pectoris of Heberden, practitioners observations are correct. The inferences drawn from these and the which lies with every member of the obligation observations are open to revision, particularly if further to assist in an attempt to penetrate the mysteries profession The statement in my paper of information is obtained. which obscure this fatal complaint. June 21st that the spirochaetse had not been cultivated on The Jennerian doctrine is losing glamour, and apologies artificial media recognises that there is no complete proof made in its support are ceasing to convince. A tendency of their parasitic nature. The reasons, however, for calling exists to revert to the simple conception of Heberden, which these bodies spirochastas are, I venture to think, similar to regards the angina pectoris as a tetany of the gastro1 Noguchi : The Journal of Experimental Medicine, January, cesophageal sheet of muscle and as belonging to the order of August, and September, 1912. spasmodic complaints associated with the musculature of the