Penicillin

Sham S. Misri

Fleming was a poor Scot­tish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby marshy place. He dropped his tools and ran to the marshy place. There, he saw a boy who had mud upto his waist and had got stuck in black muck. The boy was very much terrified, and was screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy car­riage pulled up to the Scots­man's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced him­self as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hut. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of" And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alex­ander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the marsh was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.