Caption:

A photograph of six petrie dishes growing penicillin, taken by James Jarche [1891-1965] for Illustrated magazine in 1943. A strain of penicillin mould grows on the surface of each culture dish. The samples were grown by Alexander Fleming himself. From top left to bottom right the photograph shows the rate of growth from one to ten days. Penicillin is an antibiotic, a chemical effective at very low concentrations which can kill or stop the growth of a disease-causing microbe. Penicillin is produced naturally in moulds of the genus Penicillium, from where the drug gets its name. Working as a doctor and researcher at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic penicillin in 1929. He successfully isolated the chemical from the mould Penicillium notatum. In 1934, Odhams, publishers of the Daily Herald, launched the magazine Weekly Illustrated. Based on European ideas of photoreportage it was the first British picture magazine. In 1939 the magazine changed its name to Illustrated. It continued to be published until 1958.