Magic bullet

Paul Ehrlich, a German scientist who had worked with Koch, developed the idea of a magic bullet. The aim was a treatment that would attack the disease-causing organism without harming the rest of the body. This was a goal for targeted treatment, not a claim that any chemical would be harmless.

Two important developments were magic bullets and antibiotics. These helped medicine move towards treatments directed at the cause of an infection, rather than simply relieving its symptoms. Their development depended on laboratory experiments, individual discoveries and the ability to manufacture medicines in useful quantities.