Penicillins Early Ideas of Antibiosis

Pasteur was probably the first to observe that certain microorganisms could prevent the growth of other microorganisms, or la vie empech la vie In fact his work on anthrax with his colleague Joubert led them to make, in 1887, the following observation  

Neutral or slightly alkaline urine is an excellent medium for the bacteria (anthrax)...if when the urine is inoculated with these bacteria and an aerobic organism, for example one of the common bacteria , is sown at the same time, the anthrax bacterium makes little or no growth and sooner or later dies out altogether. It is a remarkable thing that the same phenomenon is seen in the body of those animals most susceptible to anthrax. These facts perhaps justify the highest hopes for therapeutics. 

The French biologist Paul Vuillemin, in 1889, was the first to use the term antibiosis to describe this phenomenon whereby one organism destroys another in order to survive he also used the term antibiote to describe the chemical substance involved. (It should be noted that the term symbiosis is used to describe the phenomenon whereby one organism cooperates with another to their mutual benefit.) 

Demonstration by Gratia and Dath (1924 and 1934) of the lytic power of an actinomycetes. The gelatin contained a heavy emulsion of staphylococci. After 3 days, as shown, there was lysis of the staphylococci round the actinomycetes (planted in the shape of an A), and after 7 days the plate had cleared completely. 

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