If we could somehow measure the sum total of human suffering at any one time, it would surely be a frightening number. It would represent the amalgam of wars and murders, rapes and beatings, cruelties none of us would ever wish to experience. Therefore, is it not the noblest goal to, in some way, alleviate that suffering, to lessen that number? What could be more virtuous than the diminishment of sickness?
Demon Under The Microscope is a gripping history of early antibiotics: what motivated their discovery, how they were researched, and what the consequences were of their release. For 3,000 years, and perhaps for the length of human history, we have been searching for a universal curative, a drug to ensure our health against all manner of diseases, but it wasn't until the horrors of World War I that large-scale, scientific research was launched, in earnest, on this fabled drug. After all, the kings and emperors who had commanded so many of their young, male subjects to kill and die far from home needed those expensive soldiers to live through their wounds, to recover from their ailments, to fight on for their glory.
Enter Sulfa, the first of the antibiotic drugs. It's discovery is disputed, but there is no doubt that its development was spearheaded by a German pharmaceutical company in the 20 years between the two great wars, scientists doggedly working through day and night and day again to generate a salve for so many ills. All this in the shadow of the Nazis' rise to power... This is an amazing account of a remarkable time in human history, of an equally remarkable discovery, and of the men who sought to twist it to their own ends. This is a must read. (5/5 Stars)
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