450 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 194 5 



isms; (2) its bacteriostatic power is influenced to only a minor extent 

 by the number of organisms; (3) it is not antagonized by break- 

 down products of tissue autolysis or by exudates (pus) ; and (4) it 

 is nontoxic. 



Penicillin is dramatically effective against a host of killers : Menin- 

 gitis, pneumonia, tetanus, anthrax, osteomyelitis, syphilis, empyema, 

 cellulitis, diphtheria, gas gangrene, relapsing fever, actinomycosis, 

 puerperal sepsis, and many others. In the treatment of war wounds, 

 penicillin first proved its worth on the bloody sands of North Africa, 

 whence came the early reports to our Army medical staff which 

 prompted them to experiment with it. Out of these studies came 

 the Army's demand in 1943 for penicillin — and as much of it as it 

 was possible to produce ! Since then penicillin has earned for itself 

 the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, for thousands 

 of servicemen's lives have been saved by its wonderful powers, and 

 countless crippled and infected bodies quickly restored to health and 

 usefulness. From the mysterious but important realm of war medicine 

 penicillin emerged as a miracle drug for soldiers and sailors and for 

 civilians alike. However, penicillin is by no means the only successful 

 or promising antibiotic. 



CLASSIFICATION OF ANTIBIOTICS 



There are many antibiotics. While it is a simple matter to classify 

 antibiotic substances after their chemical structure has been clarified, 

 certain criteria have been developed to enable workers to properly 

 evaluate these agents. The criteria, according to Waksman, are: 

 (1) the organism that produces the substance; (2) the toxicity of the 

 substance and its chemotherapeutic activity; (3) the selective effect 

 of the material upon specific bacteria (this is termed the bacterio- 

 static or antibiotic spectrum) ; (4) the chemical nature of the sub- 

 stance (long before the active substance is isolated, microbiologists 

 have a fairly good idea as to its general character) ; and (5) the mode 

 of action of the substance upon bacteria. 



Since an organism may produce several different antibiotics, and 

 in turn several different organisms produce the same type of anti- 

 biotic, duplication has been discovered. For instance, a dozen organ- 

 isms produce penicillin, while clavacin, patulin, and claviformin from 

 different organisms are the identical substance. 



Aside from the several known isomers of penicillin, there are a 

 number of other antibiotic agents which deserve mention. Of those 

 which have been mentioned to any extent in the literature, only a few 

 are worthy of comment here. 



