220 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS. 



this treatment must begin at once, before the micro- 

 cocci have penetrated into the blood. At the same 

 time a gargle of lemon-juice or citric acid should be 

 used, which shrivels up the false membranes without 

 forcibly detaching them. The action of this acid is 

 explained by the fact that, for the most part, microbes 

 only thrive in an alkaline medium. By this treat- 

 ment Fontaine has been able to save nine-tenths of 

 his patients, while all other modes of treatment 

 have only succeeded in a third of the cases, and the 

 proportion is often much smaller. 



The first researches made in Europe on the 

 microbe of diphtheria date from 1873, at which time 

 Klebs gave an exact description of it under the 

 name Microsporon diphtericum. In most cases he 

 observed two forms : micrococci and rods or bacilli. 

 Struck by the great difference in intensity which the 

 disease presents in different epidemics, he states in 

 his later works that there are two kinds of diphtheria, 

 due to the predominance of one or other of these two 

 forms, one of which he terms microsporine, and the 

 other bacillary. The former may be observed in the 

 east of Europe, and especially in Hungary; while 

 the latter is more common in Switzerland and the 

 west, including France. The first is chiefly found 

 upon the tonsils, and is less serious; while the bacillary 

 form soon attacks the larynx and trachea, and pro- 

 duces blood-poisoning, which is rapidly fatal. The 

 bacilli which are, like those of tuberculosis, very 



