466 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
infected with bacteria which would certainly cause their death unless 
some successful treatment could be given. 
Streptococcus, staphylococcus and Clostridium septicum—a gas gan- 
grene producer—were all used on a group of mice, and in each case 
adequate doses of penicillin gave complete protection without any 
toxic effect on the animals. A new chemotherapeutic drug had been 
discovered. 
The whole of the work en penicillin has been dominated by lack 
of material. The mold produces very small amounts of the active sub- 
stance, and it is a formidable job to grow it on a large enough scale. 
In addition, the penicillin may be lost if the bacteria universally 
present in the air contaminate the culture, for they produce a ferment 
which destroys penicillin. A man is 3,000 times larger than a mouse, 
and many months elapsed between the trial on mice and the first 
injection in a man, while we struggled in the laboratory to produce 
enough material. 
The first injection of a small quantity of crude penicillin into man 
showed that something was present which caused a rise of temperature. 
Fortunately, this pyrogenic substance was an impurity and not the 
penicillin itself, and further chemical purification removed it. 
In the first two patients ever treated the amount of penicillin re- 
quired was underestimated, and though improvement occurred, the dis- 
ease was not cured, and there was no more material with which to 
proceed. However, these two patients gave a good indication of the 
amount required. 
It has been possible to find out the dosage and method of administra- 
tion, and with this knowledge it has proved possible to produce striking 
results,on even the most serious cases of disease due to staphylococci 
and other organisms. 
This early work in Britain has now been fully confirmed in the 
United States, and there seems little reason to doubt that penicillin, 
with the further developmental work which is being undertaken every- 
where, will fill an important place in medicine for the treatment of 
many infections. We are only at the beginning of its exploitation; 
further progress demands greatly increased supplies. Though no 
doubt a great deal will be produced from the mold, it is to be hoped 
that chemical progress will be such that penicillin, and even better 
substances than penicillin, may be produced in real abundance by 
synthetic processes.’ 
When plentiful supplies are available it should be possible to treat 
those diseases which can be controlled by penicillin at the earliest 
possible moment instead, as is so often the case now, of using the 
drug as a last resort. When this may be done, an enormous amount 
of temporary and permanent disability, and even death, may be 
avoided. 
2 Note added by author June 1945: This position has now been reached. 
