Fleming gifts go on sale

Medical memorabilia once belonging to penicillin discoverer Alexander Fleming (pictured), including his 1945 Prix Nobel commemorative medal, will be auctioned in London next month.

Also in the sale will be a sample of Penicillium mould in a glazed wooden box, dated 1935, and a signed, framed photograph of Fleming in his laboratory inscribed, "With Kind Regard to the Hielander, Alexander Fleming". Professor Fleming presented them to Douglas MacLeod - whose nickname was Hielander and whom he knew from St Mary's Hospital in London - whose son has put them up for auction at Christie's on July 11. They are expected to fetch up to pounds 8,000. A rare steel and ivory chainsaw, used for amputations, is expected to fetch pounds 30,000.