THE BACILLUS OF PHTHISIS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 12015, 17 October 1904, Page 10

THE BACILLUS OF PHTHISIS.

♦ PROFESSOR YON SCHEOEN AXD HIS • DISCOVERY. " Tub Wmtjiisstk* Btdoct." Professor yon Schroen received mc with tho utmost courtesy. If 1 may, I should like to record * per< soral impression of the Professor bunseX During lonj years of strenuous study, apirt from strict attention to duty ac tho Profcteor of Pathological' Anatomy at the Naples University, especially in the e'ph?re of micro-organisms, he hal .gradually for- ' eafr«n • society, and dedicated hhnself exclusively to scientific aims. . Professor yon Schroen honoured mc by immediately taking 3ne into his private toborartory, which occupies five, rooms m the upper etory of hie house. . ' On large tables and shelves you «co rrfatly erraoged about 36,000 microscopic preparations, more than 16,000 micro-photo-graphic negatives, endless photographic prints, innumerable optical • instruments, and other scientific apparatus., . . Professor yon Sehroen proceede<l to show mc "-the coloured designs of the magnified bacillus of tuberculosis, to show t'he difference between this and thfe newly-discovered phtWsis-microbe, -which is a large, "breaching, and fructifying thread-like fungus, but with no similarity to mould nor to" any otiber known micro-organism. This phthisis-microbe is in the form of spiral or tv.isted threads, as they appear attacking and penetrating the cell of th,o human lung from without, making it look like a d lisa's head. . In the next design these had ramified oil through t'he cell, and in. the last had developed a network like a Fpider'a web, obliterating the original lung-cell or nucleus: Tlw professor next took mo to his microecope, ond showed mc, sharply, defined by violet colouring, tho beautiful lnce-likc, intricate network of transparent rounded tube?, which is .the fatal microbe of phthisis. Sixteen years ago Professor yon Schroen was confident he had_ discovered this special microbe, but he waited till his researches enabled him to prove the important fact. - The thin« hadvbeen to find a.meane of cclouring the substance, hitherto believed to 'bo «nmply gaeeous matter and dead tissue, but nW. ascertained by Professor yon Schroen to be a living and relatively large parasite of a kind .hitherto unknown. On first examining h» successful preparation, tho Professor waa surprised by the qiantity of parasites, and the special manner in 'which, his mode of colouring Jiaplayed them. They were true parasites, substituting on a grand scale the pulmonary tissue they had destroyed, and determining the formation of the so-called "caverns" observed in pulmonary consumption. ■■■' ■..'-■ i' ■ I Professor yon Schroen has also discovered the crystal of the' "fourth secretive-pro-duct" of the phthisis microbe, tah-ich is a tnie prism, while that of tiibwvulosb is a rhomb, likewise discovered by liini. ■' ."By. the presence of the latter crystal in the expectoration of patients it iSjiow possrible to diagnose tubercular disease'even before the appearance of Koch's bacillus, a fact which 'deprives the of tuberculine—-tho danger of no canei doubts—of all dia£iiostac value, ; '*. . •: "' ' r Long ago Professor yon Schroen declared Koch's, discovery of the tubercle bacillus ti be not the highest but the lowest rung of tho scientific ladder of the future. The illustrious Professor has now convinced that tuberculosis and; phthisis ", ore two enrtapely • distinct. diseases; that the first can remain latent for years,; and \is reJaUvely ciwable, ; but the '"latter is fata].. He lias beea , able to study the last in ill the cycles Uβ evolution,' and to define) it as a most dangerous parasite of enormous I volume, rapid extension, and unheard-of virulence.' • ; .- '. ■. • •;' •* ■■.-/'„,■ : ; ;,'■ .;■'■,.•.•" ■'. i In the laboratory of Professor yon Schroen at Naples scientific, men find a ready.reply to all their doubts and questions, A x'mt thither has converted mare than one sceptic. - '• r \ ; ' ' \ Asked how.he had endured tie: fatigue of eighteen years of unaided work durinj the whoje day and part of night, the Professor replied, that it is: not' the "work which is difficult. T>> difficulty: is* to divest oneself of all preconceived ideas; to be " silent when ignorant object i find not to pulblish one's discoveries till: tbe\ first part "'of the work is finished, for,-in-deed, .such work can have no actiikt.end. - "Not to publish isedsy v alihost "iinevit|»ible," concWded , Piofeswr. yon* Schroen ;t"fdr to print a .work for iw"Wch;*inoTO than ,12,000 photographs *aw t; .besides, about •• 1200 coloured demgni~eplendidly; .executed ,by my .valued assutant, ■ Signor. Onofrio~requires= *uch "a'large: erm.oi /money ; that I* am at present constrained to renounce tlie idea..":;. :-...- ••,•■•:'.'■■:.'/;.. >... -*;■.;■,<;■■ :.v>•:;.•■.■„. be bo reasonabledoubt; tfhatr the newly-idiscovered bac&lua will, in tlie near future, be 'of. enormous,i utility/;. and meanwhile it Iβ another .giund iduiqm ; of physiological and pathological technics, v ' . L. WOI^FFSpHN.