Where did the phrase " Magic Bullet" originate?

Question

It's a term used a lot in medical science, Was it's origins? Would it be alchemy?

Answer 1

The "magic bullet" is from German folktales, which describe bullets of supernatural accuracy. The modern medical usage is via Ehrlich as others have already pointed out.

Answer 2

Magic Bullet Concept

Answer 3

A term coined by Nobel Price winner Paul Ehrlich (1908). The "magic bullet" concept comes from the experience of 19th century German chemists with selectively staining tissues for histological examination, and in particular, selectively staining bacteria (Ehrlich was an exceptionally gifted histological chemist, and invented the precursor technique to Gram staining bacteria). Ehrlich figured that if a compound could be made that selectively targeted a disease causing organism, then a toxin for that organism could be delivered along with the agent of selectivity. Hence, a "magic bullet" would be created that killed only the organism targeted.

The concept of a "magic bullet" was fully realized with the invention of monoclonal antibodies (Ehrlich also coined the term "chemotherapy" as well)

Answer 4

From Wikipedia:

"Paul Ehrlich (March 14, 1854 – August 20, 1915) was a German scientist who won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is noted for his work in hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy. Ehrlich predicted autoimmunity and called it "horror autotoxicus". He coined the term "chemotherapy". The idea of a "magic bullet" is also his, and he is credited with the first empirical observation of the blood-brain barrier."

From a 1940 movie synopsis describing how it happened:

"Dr. Paul Ehrlich was the German physician who developed the first synthetic antimicrobial drug, 606 or Salvarsan. The film describes how Ehrlich first became interested in the properties of the then-new synthetic dyes and had an intuition that they could be useful in the diagnosis of bacterial diseases. After this work met with success, Ehrlich proposed that synthetic compounds could be made to selectively target and destroy disease causing microorganisms. He called such a drug a "magic bullet". The film describes how in 1908, after 606 attempts, he succeeded. "

Answer 5

mag·ic bul·let (plural mag·ic bul·lets)


noun

Definition:

1. miracle drug: a drug that treats a serious disease with no undesirable side effects on the patient


2. easy solution: a quick and easy solution for a difficult problem, or a means of accomplishing the impossible