Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2159

PAUL EHRLICH (1854-1915) Die experimentelle Chemotherapie der Spirillosen (Syphilis, Rückfallfieber, Hühnerspirillose, Frambösie). J. Springer 1910 viii, 164 pp., 5 plates, tables (part fold.). 23.5 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 2156

Ehrlich conceived the idea of creating a "magic bullet" drug to kill living organisms when he observed in his early work with aniline dyes that bacteria would take up dye while the tissue remained unaffected. It was a first step toward the present-day extensive use of chemotherapy. Working with Hata, his Japanese assistant, Ehrlich carried out 605 experiments before reaching the one compound which answered all the requirements. This was the famous arsenic-based "606," the magic bullet, later named Salvarsan and first used to treat human syphilis in 1911.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 2403; Osler 1697; Waller 2707

Gift of John Martin, M.D.