This 1954, color educational film made by Encyclopedia Brittanica is about antibiotics, specifically the new era of treatments made possible by the discovery and widespread use of mold derived medicines. The film celebrates the use of Penicillin, which was up at this point one of the most important discoveries in medicine. It was discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming as a crude extract of P. rubens. The purified compound (penicillin F) was isolated in 1940 by a research team led by Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain at the University of Oxford. Fleming first used the purified penicillin to treat streptococcal meningitis in 1942. For the discovery, Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Florey and Chain.

Opening: Antibiotics shown on a table with medical supplies including bandages. Injured and wounded soldiers, probably in the Korean War, are shown being treated by doctors and nurses. A child takes a pill. A small boy has a bandage wrapped around his head. A woman on oxygen, who is suffering from pneumonia, lies in a hospital bed. Her head is draped in an oxygen tent. A doctor talks about antibiotics. A praying mantis on a plant (:06-1:50). Micro-organisms and bacteria as seen under a microscope. The doctor holds a pill bottle. Biology laboratory. A biologist holds a jelly or agar dish / petri dish. He then looks with a microscope. He explains staphylococci, a bacterium of a genus that includes many pathogenic kinds that cause pus formation, especially in the skin and mucous membranes (1:51-3:28). He holds up a sample of Penicillium, a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production. Some members of the genus produce penicillin, a molecule that is used as an antibiotic. Dish after dish of bacterium culture. The Penicillium mold fought off bacteria. The man holds some books. An anti-biotics medical book. Penicillin was refined in a lab. The woman with pneumonia is shown in a hospital bed. A doctor has a needle. A syringe is shown putting the bacteria into eggs to create a vaccine. A group of rabbits are being used as lab animals for this experiment. Bottles of antibiotics (3:29-6:27). A girl has measles. The doctor gives an antibiotic to her mother to administer to her daughter in bed. Antibiotic animation explains how they work. Animation of how Penicillin works in the cell (6:28-8:43). Canisters of so-called miracle drugs derived from mold. A chemist does experiments with drugs in the test tube. Mold cultures are studied. Micro-organism is isolated and reproduced. Pure culture to chemist who multiples it. Vials. Specialist works near the drugs in a factory. Pills in the drug factory are shown being bottled. Chickens eat antibiotics in their food (8:44-10:28). A chicken is weighed on a scale. Pigs on a farm inside of a fenced area. A farmer on a truck with swine feed bags. A man looks at a hanging piece of meat inside of a refrigerator. A doctor checks on a bedridden patient. A woman in a wheelchair. A person has gel wiped onto a scratch. A man is treated by nurses. A little boy is placed into bed with a cast on his leg. Optimistic narration about the advance of medicine in the age of the vaccine (10:29-12:33). End credits (12:34-12:40).

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