The First Use of Penicillin

And we moved to a place outside of Naples. And that's where we came across penicillin. We had the first penicillin there and they never knew how to use it. So what they used to do, they never injected it into the arms or the bottom, they put it into wounds and yes it hurt, it was terrible. And I remember that I used to get a flask of anesthetic, you know, liquid and get it sterilized and I'd mix it with the two and give it to them. It helped to deaden the awful pain of having that put into a raw terrible wound of a shoulder or something or a knee. Oh it was awful.

Ms. Carter describes using penicillin for the first time. Instead of being injected, it was rubbed directly on the wound and was extremely painful.

Doris Carter

Doris Carter was born in Birkenhead, England on June 9, 1910. Her family emigrated to Woodstock, New Brunswick and in 1932 she enrolled in Nursing at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Ms. Carter graduated in 1935, and was recruited to a wartime surgical team, prior to the war's onset. On November 30, 1940 she went overseas with #1 Military Hospital to nurse civilians injured in the bombings of Coventry and Birmingham. Ms. Carter was then sent to the Mediterranean with #5 Military Hospital. She served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Northwestern Europe. After the war, Ms. Carter pursued a career in Public Health Nursing.