Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
Billy Crystal (March 14 1948-)
Picture: Getty Images
ChemotherapyIn 1909, Nobelist Paul Ehrlich began the first chemotherapy (a term he coined). Some time before, he had given his assistant, Sahachiro Hata, two organic arsenic compounds to test as a treatment for syphilis caused by Treponema pallidum. That micro-organism could not be grown on a culture medium, but Hata became the first to discover how to infect rabbits to produce syphilis. After many careful experiments, Hata reported success with "Preparation 606" (the 606th chemical devised by Ehrlich's team). On 31 Aug 1909, Ehrlich watched Hata inject 606 into a rabbit with syphilitic ulcers. The next day, no treponeme could be found, and the ulcers healed within a month. Thus syphilis was the first disease caused by a microorganism to be cured with a specific drug.«[Image left: Ehrlich; right: Hata.] |
