﻿CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC 
  AGENTS 
  FROM 
  MICROBES 
  

  

  By 
  Robert 
  L. 
  Weintraub 
  

  

  Division 
  of 
  Radiation 
  and 
  Organisms 
  

  

  Smithsonian 
  Institution 
  

  

  [With 
  5 
  plates] 
  

   RETROSPECT 
  

  

  The 
  treatment 
  of 
  disease 
  with 
  chemical 
  agents 
  is 
  as 
  old 
  as 
  the 
  prac- 
  

   tice 
  of 
  medicine 
  itself. 
  Since 
  the 
  beginnings 
  of 
  the 
  healing 
  art, 
  there 
  

   has 
  been 
  a 
  constant 
  effort 
  to 
  discover 
  specific 
  remedies 
  for 
  the 
  maladies 
  

   that 
  beset 
  the 
  human 
  organism. 
  During 
  the 
  dawn 
  of 
  our 
  present 
  

   scientific 
  era, 
  hopes 
  of 
  success 
  in 
  this 
  direction 
  were 
  voiced 
  by 
  some 
  

   of 
  the 
  outstanding 
  workers, 
  such 
  as 
  Paracelsus 
  in 
  the 
  sixteenth 
  cen- 
  

   tury 
  and 
  Boyle 
  in 
  the 
  seventeenth, 
  but 
  the 
  search 
  for 
  chemical 
  spe- 
  

   cifics 
  was 
  of 
  necessity 
  conducted 
  in 
  an 
  entirely 
  empirical 
  manner. 
  

   Until 
  the 
  twentieth 
  century 
  only 
  three 
  valuable 
  specific 
  remedies 
  

   for 
  infectious 
  diseases 
  had 
  been 
  found: 
  cinchona 
  bark 
  (containing 
  

   quinine) 
  for 
  malaria, 
  ipecac 
  (containing 
  emetine) 
  for 
  amebic 
  dysen- 
  

   tery, 
  and 
  mercury 
  for 
  syphilis. 
  

  

  The 
  firm 
  establishment 
  of 
  the 
  germ 
  theory 
  of 
  disease, 
  due 
  largely 
  

   to 
  Pasteur 
  during 
  the 
  latter 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  nineteenth 
  century, 
  created 
  

   a 
  rational 
  basis 
  for 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  chemotherapy. 
  Today 
  various 
  

   connotations 
  have 
  become 
  associated 
  with 
  this 
  term. 
  To 
  the 
  earlier 
  

   workers 
  it 
  meant 
  the 
  internal 
  disinfection 
  of 
  the 
  body 
  by 
  chemicals 
  

   which 
  would 
  destroy 
  the 
  pathogenic 
  parasites 
  without 
  harming 
  the 
  

   host 
  — 
  in 
  the 
  words 
  of 
  Paul 
  Ehrlich, 
  the 
  father 
  of 
  chemotherapy 
  : 
  "by 
  

   magic 
  bullets 
  which 
  strike 
  only 
  those 
  objects 
  for 
  whose 
  destruction 
  

   they 
  have 
  been 
  produced." 
  

  

  The 
  recognition 
  of 
  the 
  powerful 
  bactericidal 
  action 
  of 
  a 
  number 
  

   of 
  chemicals, 
  such 
  as 
  carbolic 
  acid 
  and 
  bichloride 
  of 
  mercury, 
  stimu- 
  

   lated 
  expectations 
  of 
  the 
  early 
  accomplishment 
  of 
  inner 
  disinfection. 
  

   Despite 
  a 
  great 
  deal 
  of 
  labor, 
  however, 
  this 
  goal 
  was 
  not 
  achieved 
  ; 
  the 
  

   disinfectants 
  which 
  appeared 
  so 
  promising 
  in 
  test-tube 
  experiments 
  

   were 
  found 
  to 
  be 
  either 
  ineffective 
  in 
  vivo 
  or 
  too 
  toxic 
  toward 
  the 
  

   body. 
  It 
  was 
  not 
  until 
  1910, 
  with 
  the 
  introduction 
  of 
  salvarsan, 
  or 
  

   "606," 
  developed 
  after 
  years 
  of 
  painstaking 
  work 
  by 
  Ehrlich, 
  that 
  

  

  545 
  

  

  