Historical information

Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi, including penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases, such as syphilis, and infections caused by staphylococci and streptococci. Penicillins are still widely used today, though many types of bacteria have now become resistant. All penicillins are β-lactam antibiotics and are used in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible, usually Gram-positive, organisms.
The development of penicillin for use as a medicine is attributed to the Australian Nobel laureate Howard Walter Florey, together with the German Nobel laureate Ernst Chain and the English biochemist Norman Heatley

Physical description

A clear glass bottle with a metal fixed top in which the central rubber disc has been pierced by a needle .

Inscriptions & markings

Front: CRYSTALLINE PENICILLIN / ( SODIUM SALT) G / GLAXO / FOR INJECTION / Use only under medical supervision / 1000000 / UNITS PER VIAL. Left side : Refrigeration unnecessary....MANFD. DEC. 1955 / EXPIRY DEC. 1958 / POTENCY 1667 / IU/MG / BATCH 269. Right side :Contains over 90% / penicillin G / Contains no preservatives / GLAXO LABORATORIES / (AUST.) PTY. LTD. / Melbourne Sydney