Editing Howard Florey (section)

=== University of Cambridge ===
The sudden death of British pathologist [[Thomas Strangeways]] on 23 December 1926 created a vacancy in the Huddersfield Lectureship in Special Pathology at Cambridge,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Mr. T. S. P. Strangeways |journal=Nature |issn=0028-0836 |volume=119 |issue=92 |date=15 January 1927 |doi=10.1038/119092a0 |last1=R |first1=H. |page=92 |bibcode=1927Natur.119...92R |s2cid=4072016 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and it was offered to Florey.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=151-153}} At Cambridge, Florey had a secure appointment and fine laboratory facilities, although the salary of £900  ({{Inflation|UK|900|1926|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=£}}) was only slightly higher. He had to teach, which he disliked, preferring research, but there was satisfaction that the new [[tripos]] course was largely designed by himself and [[Alan Nigel Drury]].{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=199}} He recruited fourteen-year-old Jim Kent as his assistant. It was the practice at Cambridge that laboratory technicians would rotate through the various laboratory departments, which provided them with thorough training, but was frustrating to the researcher, who had to break in a new assistant every few months. Finding a good one was difficult for Florey; his reputation for hard work, long hours and exacting standards preceded him. He arranged for Kent to be permanently assigned as his assistant, and Kent would remain in the role for the next forty years.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=151–152}}

The Floreys bought a house in Cambridge, and Florey cycled to work every day, including Sundays, arriving at 10:00, except on class days when he had to be there earlier.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=155–156}} Ethel collaborated on two papers, co-written with Drury and [[Albert Szent-Györgyi]] respectively,{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=33–34}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drury |first1=A. N. |last2=Florey |first2=H. |last3=Florey |first3=M. E. |author-link3=Mary Ethel Florey |title=The vascular reactions of the colonic mucosa of the dog to fright |journal=The Journal of Physiology |issn=0022-3751 |date=23 October 1929 |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=173–180 |doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1929.sp002604 |pmid=16994058 |pmc=1402856 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Florey |first1=H. |last2=Szent-Györgyi |first2=A. |author-link2=Albert Szent-Györgyi |last3=Florey |first3=M. E. |author-link3=Mary Ethel Florey |title=Methods for testing for the presence of adrenal cortex hormone  |journal=The Journal of Physiology |issn=0022-3751 |date=25 July 1929 |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=343–348 |doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1929.sp002574 |pmid=16994036  |pmc=1402838 }}</ref> but stopped coming to the laboratory after she became pregnant. Nonetheless, during the summer break in 1929, she accompanied Florey to Spain, where Sherrington had arranged for him to study methods of nerve staining under [[Santiago Ramón y Cajal]]. They decided to commemorate this trip by naming their daughter, who was born on 26 September 1929, Paquita Mary Joanna.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|p=258}}{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=34–35}} Two years later they spent the summer with the French histologist and endocrinologist [[Pol Bouin]] at the [[University of Strasbourg]], where Florey studied mucinogen, the chemical precursor to [[mucin]].{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=205}}{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=35–36}}<ref>{{cite journal |title= Pol André Bouin, MD (1870-1962). Bouin's fixative and other contributions to medicine |year=1992 |journal=Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine |issn=0003-9985 |volume=116 |issue=8 |pages=882–884 |last=Ortiz-Hidalgo |first=Carlos |pmid=1497471}}</ref>

In January 1929, Florey began a study of [[lysozyme]],{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=171}} an enzyme that forms part of the immune system in animals. For Florey this was a natural extension of his work with mucus. Lysozyme occurs in secretions containing mucus, and Florey wondered if it was a property of mucus. He mastered lysozyme [[assay]], and chemically identified it. He tested various animals for its presence; dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs all had it in their secretions, but cats had very little, and goats had none, except in their tears. In a paper published in 1930, Florey concluded that lysozyme played little part in natural immunity.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=178–182}}