Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

The "ESP" sequence for chemical medicine:

• E — Ehrlich: Salvarsan/Compound 606 (1909) — first magic bullet (syphilis)
• S — Sulphonamides: Domagk/Prontosil (1932) — first drugs against blood poisoning, scarlet fever
• P — Penicillin: Fleming (1928 discovery) / Florey & Chain (1940 development) — first broad-spectrum antibiotic

The "606" memory trick: Salvarsan is called Compound 606 because it was the 606th compound Ehrlich tested. To remember the year: 1909 is just after 1900, and 606 sounds like "six hundred and six" — imagine testing 606 different medicines one by one, every single one failing until the very last one. That persistence is the key fact about Ehrlich's method.

Key dates to know cold:

• 1876–83: Koch identifies specific bacteria — germ theory foundation for magic bullets
• 1909: Ehrlich and Hata — Salvarsan (Compound 606) — first magic bullet (syphilis)
• 1910: Salvarsan first used clinically on patients
• 1932: Domagk — Prontosil — first sulphonamide drug (streptococcal infections)
• 1935: Sulphonamides widely available — used in WW2

Ehrlich vs Fleming — the key contrast:

• Ehrlich (Salvarsan, 1909): Systematic search, deliberate method, 606 tests, individual determination
• Fleming (Penicillin, 1928): Accidental discovery, mould contamination, chance observation
• Both needed further development (Ehrlich refined Salvarsan; Florey & Chain developed penicillin)
• Both represent the factor "individuals" — but in very different ways

Visual association: Picture Ehrlich in a laboratory surrounded by 605 labelled bottles with crosses on them (all failed), finally holding up Bottle 606 with a glowing label "SALVARSAN." Behind him on the wall is a poster of Koch's bacteria diagrams. The image captures both the systematic method and the debt to germ theory.