
3 4 c m
40cm
actual image size: 32cm x 26cm
Description
Three glass ampoules of penicillin, taken by James Jarche for Illustrated magazine in 1943. Each small glass bottle or ampoule contains a standard dose of penicillin, an orange powder which has been freeze dried. The penicillin is mixed with sterile water before it is injected into a patient. The difficulty in growing and extracting pencillin meant that each ampoule probably cost about £80 at the time. Penicillin is an antibiotic, a chemical effective at very low concentrations which can kill or stop the growth of a disease-causing microbe. Penicillin is produced naturally in moulds of the genus Penicillium, from where the drug gets its name.
Image Details
Image Ref.
10432096
© Daily Herald Archive / National Science & Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library