“Measure twice, cut once,” goes the old saying. The truth of this wisdom is evident at every turn, especially in our time, when one astonishing discovery follows another, making it difficult to predict their outcomes.
When penicillin was discovered to help the body combat inflammatory processes and scientists learned to produce this remarkable antibiotic in significant quantities, the idea arose to use it for treating domestic animals.
They first tried it on calves suffering from pneumonia. After receiving penicillin injections, the calves’ colds improved, but they still died from exhaustion. Why? They were still being fed as usual. The issue lay in the fact that the bacteria residing in their stomachs and intestines helped them digest the food they swallowed. Penicillin destroyed these beneficial organisms, leading the calves to starve despite consuming their regular portions of feed.
It was later established that penicillin did not have such a devastating effect on adult cows. Consequently, they began treating these animals with the antibiotic.