Penicillium mould, spore production, SEM

SEM Penicillium mould & spores, close-up

Salvarsan treatment kit for syphilis, Germany, 1909-1912

Bottle of Terramycin with original contents and original car

An American sailor sits disconsolately in his pyjamas, regretting his infection with a venereal disease incurable with penicillin. Colour lithograph, ca. 1948.

Three tubes of penicillin powder, two of International Stand

Poster advocating the benefits of Penicillin

Glass phial of British Standard penicillin, London, England,

Specimen bottle for blood for a test for syphilis, England,

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In the Second World War, better care regimes and new drugs such as penicil-lin greatly improved the survival rates of wounded British and American sol-diers who could reach a hospital. This object shows Schenley Laboratories Inc. advertising their large scale production of penicillin. They were one of twenty firms designated by the United States government to produce penicillin especially for the war effort. The picture shows a soldier’s life being saved by penicillin, under the caption: “Thanks to PENICILLIN… He will come home.” The war theme continues by calling penicillin “the most potent weapon ever developed against many of the deadliest infections known to man”. This shows how penicillin was considered a wonder drug.

publisher: Time Incorporated

Place made: United States

Advertisement for penicillin production from Life magazine,

Scanning electron micrograph of Penicillium mould producing spores, very close up.

SEM Penicillium mould producing spores, v. close-up

Salvarsan was a synthetic drug produced to treat the STI syphilis. The drug was developed by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), a German medical scientist, and his team in 1909 after three years of research. Ehrlich coined the phrase ‘magic bullet’ to describe this new wonder drug.

The diluted yellow Salvarsan treatment was difficult and painful to inject and it did not cure syphilis overnight. As it was an arsenic based compound, it was also toxic. Salvarsan would later be replaced by antibiotics such as penicillin.

The drug in the kit was made by a German manufacturer Farbwerke vorm Meister Lucius & Bruning AG and is stamped with the date “3 February 1912”. It was sold by a British chemist, W Martindale, who added all the equipment to prepare injections.

maker (Salvarsan): Farbwerke vorm Meister Lucius und Brüning, supplier: W Martindale

Place made: Höchst, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany

Scanning electron micrograph of Penicillium mould producing spores, plus very close up view of spore formation.

Poster featuring a wounded US soldier being administered Pencillin by a male military nurse in the jungle. An inset of cells on a culture plate is to the top right hand corner of the image.

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Penicillin

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Works

Advertisement for penicillin production from Life magazine,

SEM Penicillium mould producing spores, v. close-up

Salvarsan treatment kit for syphilis, Germany, 1909-1912

SEM Penicillium mould & spores, close-up

Poster advocating the benefits of Penicillin

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Wellcome uses cookies.

Penicillin

Images

Works

Advertisement for penicillin production from Life magazine,

SEM Penicillium mould producing spores, v. close-up

Salvarsan treatment kit for syphilis, Germany, 1909-1912

SEM Penicillium mould & spores, close-up

Poster advocating the benefits of Penicillin

Wellcome Collection

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