What is What was a "magic bullet"??

A chemical that kills specific bacteria without harming healthy cells

Magic Bullets — GCSE History Revision

Free taster

5 of 6 sections open

The basics

Setting the Scene

📖 Setting the Scene

By 1900, doctors could identify germs and prevent some diseases with vaccines. But what about CURING people already infected? Enter Paul Ehrlich, working in Robert Koch's laboratory. He dreamed of a "magic bullet" — a chemical that would kill germs in the body without killing the patient. In 1909, after testing 606 different compounds, his team found one that killed the syphilis bacterium. They called it Salvarsan (Compound 606). It was the first drug to target a specific disease — the dawn of chemical medicine.

▶ Paul Ehrlich & Magic Bullets - History of Medicine (4 mins)

What was Salvarsan?: Compound 606 — Ehrlich's 1909 cure for syphilis, the first magic bullet

Key terms

History glossary

What was Salvarsan?: Compound 606 — Ehrlich's 1909 cure for syphilis, the first magic bullet
What was a "magic bullet"?: A chemical that kills specific bacteria without harming healthy cells

Exam tip

Earn the mark scheme marks

🧠 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.

Now try it yourself

Quiz · Question 1 of 8

What was the name of the drug Paul Ehrlich developed in 1909 to treat syphilis?

Tap an answer to check it

← Previous topic

Florence Nightingale

Next topic →

Penicillin