Fleming Sir Alexander General Editor (2 results)

First edition. Illustrated. 8vo, green cloth wtih gilt lettering on spine. x, 362, index. A fine copy throughout. IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION AND A PMM TITLE. "When Alexander Fleming began his work at St Mary's Hospital in London.he was following the Listerian tradition and seeking new and more powerful antiseptics which could be used internally without damaging healthy tissues. It was in the course of this research that Fleming noticed the accidental contamiation of a culture plate of staphylococci by a mould which had floated throught the window. The colonies of the common pus-forming bacterium adjacent to the mould appeared to be destroyed by it. The mould was identified as penicillium notatum and when cultures of it were developed it was found to produce a brown liquid substance whih Fleming named penicillin and which was shown to have a powerful destructive action on a wide range of microbes. It was also found to be a chemically complex and unstable substance which, it seemed would be impossible to produce and store on a large scale. The work of Chain and Florey who used Fleming's paper as a starting-off point led to the isolating of its active principle and the work of pharmaceutical companies in America led to the manufacture of the substance in mas quantity. Fleming, Chain and Florey shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945." PMM An extremely early consideration of the new drug, consisting of articles by the most experienced and eminent practitioners, including Fleming who was primarily responsible for its discovery and production.

*: London, Butterworth & Co., 1946, format in-8°, x pp + 380 pp, index. Original publisher's hardback (green cloth). No dustwrapper, spine a bit discoloured, some shelfwear, still a good/fine copy. No library markings.First edition.