Authors: Peter Pringle
38
“offer hope”
Sam Epstein, “Streptomycin Background Material,” undated, SAW, box 14, 5.
38
Byron's letter
Waksman produced quotes from the letter in
My Life with the Microbes
(London: Robert Hale, 1958), 212. He wrote that he received the letter in May 1942, but the letter itself was not found in the archives, and Byron Waksman did not know of its whereabouts. Byron Waksman, author interview, April 20, 2011.
39
“The time has not come yet”
Waksman,
My Life
(London: Robert Hale, 1958), 212.
39
“early in 1943”
Waksman,
My Life
, 212.
39
“bacteriostatic substances”
Selman Waksman's Rutgers expenses for the trip to New York, June 1, 1943, SAW, box 1, 13.
39
dried cells of the human TB
Selman Waksman to Florence B. Seibert, June 18, 1943, SAW, box 14, 3. See also Seibert to Waksman, June 21, 1943.
39
sent one of each
Selman Waksman to Florence Seibert, June 23, 1943, SAW, box 14, 3.
40
“true devotee”
W. I. B. Beveridge,
The Art of Scientific Investigation: An Entirely New Approach to the Intellectual Adventure of Scientific Research
(New York: Vintage Books, 1957), 203.
40
“playing about”
Beveridge,
Art of Scientific Investigation
, 204.
40
“silly simple”
Hubert Lechevalier, “Antibiotics at Rutgers,” in
The History of Antibiotics
, ed. John Parascandola (Madison, WI: American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1980), 120.
42
“excitement that prevailed”
Samuel Epstein and Beryl Williams,
Miracles from Microbes: The Road to Streptomycin
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1946), 139.
43
“I'm paralyzed”
Jones Ralston, “A Personal Glimpse at the Discovery of Streptomycin,” undated, AS personal archive, 6.
43
“designated as streptomycin”
Selman Waksman to Randolph Major, October 28, 1943, SAW, box 6, 7.
43
call his discovery streptomycin
Albert Schatz, “The True Story of the Discovery of Streptomycin,”
Actinomycetes
4, no. 2 (August 1993): 32.
44
childhood in Glasgow
Frank Ryan,
Tuberculosis: The Greatest Story Never Told
(Bromsgrove, UK: Swift, 1992), 225.
44
“foot in the door”
William Feldman, “Streptomycin: Some Historical Aspects of Its Development as a Chemotherapeutic Agent in Tuberculosis,”
American Review of Tuberculosis
69, no. 6 (1954): 861.
44
“wasting their time”
Feldman, “Streptomycin,” 859â68.
45
Jacob Joffe
Albert Schatz, lecture to the Biotechnology Club, Rutgers University, April 22, 1993, AS personal archive. See also David Pramer, author interview, March 26, 2011.
46
heard him complain
Albert Schatz to Peter Lawrence, undated 2002, AS personal archive.
47
first scientific paper
Albert Schatz, Elizabeth Bugie, and Selman Waksman, “Streptomycin, a Substance Exhibiting Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria,”
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
55 (1944): 66â69.
48
non-pathogenic strain
Corwin Hinshaw to Dr. and Mrs. Howard A. Anderson, September 19, 1989, AS personal archive.
48
a sample of streptomycin
Selman Waksman to William Feldman, March 1, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
48
four to six guinea pigs
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, March 7, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
49
he had pneumonia
Elizabeth Clark to Vivian Schatz, January 1944, AS personal archive.
49
only member of the staff
Albert Schatz, lecture,
Chilean Society for Diseases of the Chest and Thorax
, Santiago, Chile, November 5, 1964;
Pakistan Dental Review
15 (1965), 124â34.
50
problem of logistics
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, April 27, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
50
“one of the finest labs”
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, April 27, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
51
“any possible confusion”
Selman Waksman to William Feldman, May 8, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
51
Feldman agreed
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, May 11, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
51
“mysterious and delicious”
Corwin Hinshaw, biographical notes, December 15, 1990, APS, Corwin Hinshaw papers, series 4, misc.
53
“sometime Monday morning”
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, July 1, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
53
they were called back
Boyd Woodruff, author interview, December 3, 2010.
53
only by code names
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, July 19, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
54
“completely inhibited”
Fordyce Heilman to Selman Waksman, August 8, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
54
“definite” confirmation
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, transcript of phone conversation, September 19, 1944, APS, Corwin Hinshaw papers, series 1, correspondence, box 1.
55
“it would be proper”
William Feldman to Selman Waksman, September 19, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
55
“quite understood”
Randolph Major to William Feldman, September 28, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
56
Feldman agreed to a delay
William Feldman to Randolph Major, October 10, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
56
“We have with us today”
Selman Waksman,
My Life with the Microbes
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954), 208â15.
57
“six-step”
Selman Waksman, Elizabeth Bugie, and Albert Schatz, “Isolation of Antibiotic Substances from Soil Micro-organisms with Special Reference to Streptothricin and Streptomycin,”
Proceedings of the Staff Meetings of the Mayo Clinic
19 (1944): 537â48.
57
did not produce a clear zone
Albert Schatz, “Report on Waksman's Evaluation of My Role in the Discovery of Streptomycin,” 2001, AS personal archive.
58
“perhaps some intuition”
Douglas Eveleigh and Carl Schaffner, “Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Streptomycin,”
Society for Industrial Microbiology News
44, no. 4 (July/August 1994): 177â84. Also given as a paper by Douglas Eveleigh for the New Jersey Experiment Station Series D-01111-02.
58
footnote was printed
Albert Schatz and Selman A. Waksman, “Effect of Streptomycin and Other Antibiotic Substances upon Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
and Related Organisms,”
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
57 (1944): 247.
60
bizarre operation
John Marquand to S. Bayne-Jones, “Digest of Information Regarding Axis Activities in the Field of Bacteriological Warfare,” January 8, 1943, NA, Modern Military Records, Record Group 175.
61
“bacteria of every description”
Ibid.
61
“most promising”
E. B. Fred, “Special Conference Concerning the BW Agents and WRS,” memorandum, June 17, 1943, NAS Committees on Biological Warfare, series 1, “War Bureau of Consultants” Committee, box 6.
62
“most of the burns”
Selman Waksman to Randolph Major, October 28, 1943, SAW, box 6, 7.
62
“hardly fair”
Ibid.
62
“quite understood”
Randolph Major to Selman Waksman, November 3, 1943, SAW, box 6, 7.
62
“concrete information”
and
“feasible”
“Biological Warfare: Report to the Secretary of War by Mr. George Merck, Special Consultant,” January 3, 1945, NAS, Committees on Biological Warfare, series 1, “WBC” Committee, box 6.
63
“special service”
George Merck to Vice Admiral Ross McIntire and Surgeon General, August 11, 1944, Secret, declassified November 9, 1989, NA.
63
“except to the federal services”
Lewis Weed to Major General Norman Kirk, September 27, 1945, NA.
63
“correspondence and conversations”
Carl Anderson to Selman Waksman, draft letter, June 19, 1944, SAW, box 6, 7.
63
became a formal letter
Merck & Co. to Selman Waksman, August 17, 1944, SAW, box 6, 7.
63
“voluntarily abandoned”
Trustees meeting report on compensation paid to Selman A. Waksman, Rutgers Research and Endowment Foundation, New York, December 1950, SAW, box 14, 7.
64
memorandum of invention
Photostat copy August 14, 1944, RREF, box 3, 24.
64
“is described in detail”
It is not possible to tell whether Waksman actually carried out these experiments, or whether they were done by one of his graduate students and he then wrote up the results in his notebook. This happened sometimes. The student who might have done the work was Betty Bugie, but her notebooks have not survived.
64
“whose interests were profits”
Albert Schatz to Jerome Eisenberg, handwritten memo, February 13, 1950, AS, box 2, 25.
65
“
without special permission”
Secret memo regarding infant, D. W. Richards to Medical Department, Columbia University, September 27, 1944, SAW, box 6, 4.
65
results were mixed
Edward Miller to N. Paul Hudson, “Conference on Streptomycin at Merck and Company,” November 11, 1944, NA, Modern Military Records, Record Group 175.
66
avoiding overly optimistic statements
Corwin Hinshaw, “Historical Notes on Earliest Use of Streptomycin in Clinical Tuberculosis,”
American Review of Tuberculosis
70 (1954): 9â14.
67
“Long term crucial”
Selman A. Waksman,
The Conquest of Tuberculosis
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964), 128.
67
fifty-four cases of TB
William Feldman and Corwin Hinshaw, “Streptomycin: A Summary of Clinical and Experimental Observations,”
Journal of Pediatrics
28 (1946): 269. A preliminary report on thirty-four cases was published in September 1945. H. C. Hinshaw and W. H. Feldman, “Streptomycin in Treatment of Clinical Tuberculosis: A Preliminary Report,”
Proceedings of the Staff Meetings of the Mayo Clinic
20 (1945): 313.
67
“no conclusive statements”
Samuel Epstein and Beryl Williams,
Miracles from Microbes: The Road to Streptomycin
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1946), ix.
67
“Schatz and I have discovered”
Selman Waksman, affidavit in the United States Patent Office, in the application of Selman Waksman and Albert Schatz, serial number 577136, February 9, 1945.
72
Lilac Gardens
Vivian Schatz, author interview, November 8, 2008.
73
four test tubes
Vivian Schatz, author interview, ibid.
73
“Each morning”
Albert Schatz to Selman Waksman, March 27, 1945, MW.
73
finished his thesis
Albert Schatz, “Streptomycin: An Antibiotic Agent Produced by
Actinomyces Griseus
,” Ph.D. thesis, Rutgers University, 1945, AS personal archive.
74
“Certain strains of
Streptomyces griseus
”
Selman Waksman,
Microbial Antagonisms and Antibiotic Substances
(New York: Commonwealth Fund, 1945), 117â23.
74
new genera, Streptomyces
During the 1920s and 1930s, Selman Waksman and others attempted to reclassify members of the group of microbes known as Actinomycetales, but there were so many different types and forms that these efforts failed. In 1943, Waksman and a colleague, Arthur Henrici, laid down new criteria and five genera were recognized. One of these,
Streptomyces
, included the original genus
Actinomycetes
. Thus,
Actinomyces griseus
, which produced streptomycin, became
Streptomyces griseus
.