Report in a laboratory where penicillin is made, which has helped to defeat gangrene, a scourge that killed millions of wounded on the battlefields... This drug is produced as quickly as possible to meet the demands of the allied armies. Explanations of manufacturing processes.
A room of the Hypocrate Private Institute of Medicine was named after the Lyon inventor of penicillin: Ernest Duchesne. This military doctor discovered the virtues of penicillin thirty years before Alexander Fleming. The Surgeon General Inspector FLECHAIRE, Commander of the Ecole de Santé des Armées, explains that Ernest Duchesne has provided experimental evidence that certain moulds can oppose bacterial growth. Caroline GY, little niece of Ernest Duchesne, regrets that this precursor of antibiotic therapy did not come out of the shadows. Illustration by pictures and engravings.
Doctor René MARTIN explains how the experimentation of penicillin on man at the Pasteur hospital began in January 1944, under the Occupation. The idea was to do complementary treatment to a baby with meningitis. The result was a big improvement, but not a cure. Subsequently, they successfully cured boils. At the Liberation, they were able to continue their experiments on a larger scale.
Interview with Amalia Fleming, who was the wife of the famous physician and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming, inventor of penicillin. She explains that abroad her husband was "worshipped like a god. In Spain, for example, when he passed, we knelt down...". He was able to benefit himself from his invention one day when he was very ill...
Dr René MARTIN explains how the French government took over experiments around penicillin, notably by creating three penicillin centres. The doctors were then able to tackle a deadly disease, infectious endocarditis, and had great success. Next to him is a young woman who was their first patient. She testifies to her healing, which allowed her to resume her profession as a teacher. She says she was very affected by the death of Dr Fleming, since it is thanks to him that she is still alive: "ten years of life is something"...
The INA Galaxy 
