History rewritten
Sir,—-The article on scientific “myths” (September 29) failed to say why the excellent story about Archimedes jumping from his bath and running naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting "eureka” is now believed to be untrue. At school I was taught that Archimedes was elated at
realising he could measure the volume of the dubious crown by weighing it under water. Nowadays many textbooks and reference books give as “the principle of Archimedes” a common-sense notion whose “discovery” would never have excited anybody. Such rewriting of scientific history is disturbing. One myth which really should be knocked on the head is the claim that the penicillin which revolutionised modern medicine came from a blue-green mould noticed by Alexander Fleming. As Lennard Bickel’s biography of Howard Florey makes clear, penicillin was actually mass-produced from “a pretty golden” fungus discovered by the American mould enthusiast Mary Hunt. — Yours, etc. MARK D. SADLER. October 3, 1988.
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Press, 8 October 1988, Page 20
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155History rewritten Press, 8 October 1988, Page 20
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