Thought for the Day Doubt - Two

Haughton Park Autumn 2025

I was thinking about the subject of doubt, both in our personal lives and in medical science.

At the time of the Great War, Alexander Fleming saw a great many soldiers dying of infected wounds. This made a deep impression on him. After the war, he decided to do research in microbiology – he discovered penicillin, a very important medicine.

Fleming had been on holiday. When he returned to his lab, he noticed that mould had grown on a dish on which he had sown Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria. He was amazed when he saw that the mould had produced something that had killed the bacteria.

It was known at the time that mould could produce chemicals that inhibited bacterial growth – but not actually kill them. Fleming wrote about his finding in a scientific journal in 1929, but scientists didn’t show much interest in his report – they were doubtful that it would be worth developing penicillin as a medicine.

Two physicians in Sheffield put penicillin to use on patients with eye disease. The treatment was a great success, but they didn’t write about their work at the time and they didn’t continue on with it. They put penicillin to one side. They were doubtful about it. Ten years passed before there was any further mention of penicillin.

Perhaps in our own personal lives, we might do the same thing – set our doubts to one side when it would be better for us to put them to the test.