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As these remarkable characteristics became known, and with a World War on hand, the demands for Penicillin increased in England. But, unfortunately, the supply could not keep pace because the mold was still being grown in laboratory flasks. Over in this country the Boston Cocoanut Grove fire first caused American doctors to demand larger quantities of the drug that had proven so effective in healing the fire victims. With the outbreak of the War over here our government asked over twenty drug and chemical manufacturers to study the problem and millions of dollars were put into manufacturing plants to produce Penicillin in larger quantities. Dr. Andrew Moyer tackled the problem of growing the green mold and tried many different kinds of food material. One of the best ones he found was the water in which the starch-makers have soaked the corn. From this work the amount of Penicillin obtained from a given amount of mold has increased a hundred fold. That is 10,000 per cent. That is one of the reasons why Penicillin is available to our men at the front and to our hospitals here at home. |
