FLEMING ALEXANDER: (1881-1955) Scottish Biologist, Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine, 1945.

FLEMING ALEXANDER: (1881-1955) Scottish Biologist, Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine, 1945.
T.L.S., Alexander Fleming, one page, 8vo, London, 23rd November 1950, to Dr. I Geikie-Cobb, on the printed stationery of the Wright-Fleming Institute of Microbiology, St. Mary´s Hospital Medical School, Paddington. Fleming states in full `I return manuscript and proofs, also new manuscript which incorporates the bottom of the penultimate page and the whole of the last page of the proofs. I hope I have not put in too much new stuff, but it was necessary. ´ Some slight creasing to the lower left corner, not affecting the text or signature, otherwise VGDr. Ivor Geikie Cobb - Expert Physician and AuthorThe manuscript Fleming refers to corresponds to an article about antibiotics which would be included among others in a medical guide published by Geikie Cobb.Fleming's best known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the world's first antibiotic substance benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945). Fleming, as the current letter illustrates, wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. In 2002 he was named among the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons and Fleming was also named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. Fleming's discovery of penicillin would change the course of history; by introducing the age of useful antibiotics, penicillin has conquered some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis, and has saved, and is still saving, millions of people around the world.