220 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS. 
this treatment must begin at once, before the micro- 
cocei 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 
