The 1900's

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Henry James (1843-1916)
Autograph Letter Signed : London, England, to Dr. James Jackson Putnam, Boston, Massachusetts,
January 4, 1912

During an extended visit to the United States in 1910 and 1911, author and Cambridge native Henry James sought the advice of physicians Joseph Collins and James Jackson Putnam for methods of losing weight and also the treatment of his "evil times"—what probably would now be diagnosed as depression—following the death of his brother, philosopher William James.

In this letter, written in the wordy and elliptical style characteristic of the author of The Wings of the Dove and The Ambassadors, James describes his dissatisfaction with the recommendations of Dr. Collins and his physical and mental improvement following the treatment prescribed by Dr. Putnam and a return to London life.

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Penicillium notatum

This case contains a colony of Penicillium notatum, the mold from which penicillin is derived. British biochemist Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) inadvertently discovered the antibacterial properties of the mold at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, in 1928, when he observed its ability to inhibit the growth of staphylococcus. For his discovery, Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel prize with Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, who were responsible for the purification and first clinical trials of penicillin in 1941. Infections from casualties during World War II prompted the efficient production of this andmark antibiotic into the common drug we know today. This colony of Penicillium notatum was grown in Alexander Fleming’s laboratory.

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Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) and Charles Herbert Best (1899-1978)
Laboratory Notes : manuscript, August 7, 1921

During the summer of 1921, hoping to bring relief to patients afflicted with diabetes mellitus, Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting and his research assistant, Charles Best, began to experiment with ligating the pancreatic ducts of dogs to isolate a hypothetical internal secretion permitting the body to metabolize carbohydrates and regulate the level of sugar in the blood. In the autumn of that year, Banting and Best managed to keep a diabetic dog, Marjorie, alive for seventy days with their pancreatic extract. By 1923, Eli Lilly and Company began commercial production of a purified version of the extract—called "Insulin" from the Latin insula [island] since the extract was produced in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans—allowing patients a viable therapy to keep diabetes under control for the first time.

This leaf from the joint notebook kept by Banting and Best during 1921 chronicles a key experiment on Dog #408, showing the drop in the level of blood sugar after the hourly administration of Isletin, the extract’s original working name.

The 1900's