The history is more tragic than that that light-hearted story lets on. Quoting from Wikipedia: > Albert Alexander was a constable in the police force of the Co

The history is more tragic than that that light-hearted story lets on. Quoting from Wikipedia: > Albert Alexander was a constable in the police force of the County of Oxford, England.[1] In December 1940, Constable Alexander was accidentally scratched by a rose thorn in his mouth. By the end of the month the scratch was badly infected with both Staphylococcus and Streptococcus and Constable Alexander was hospitalised in the Radcliffe Infirmary. Despite efforts of various treatments, Alexander's head was covered with abscesses and one of his eyes had been removed. ... > On 12 February 1941, Constable Alexander was given an intravenous infusion of 160 mg (200 units) of penicillin. Within 24 hours, Alexander's temperature had dropped, his appetite had returned and the infection had begun to heal. However, due to the instability of penicillin and the war time restrictions placed on Florey's laboratory, only a small quantity of penicillin had been extracted and, although Florey and colleagues extracted any remaining penicillin from Alexander's urine, by the fifth day they had run out.[1] > Constable Alexander died on 15 March 1941.[2] > Florey and his team decided only to work on sick children who did not need such large amounts of penicillin, until their methods of production improved.[4]