At about the time of national confederation in Canada, in the 1860s, profound changes had begun to take place in the field of chemical science, although most of these had not yet been translated into any advances in drug treatment. This was the era of chemical brilliance in Germany. Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915), often referred to as the father of modern pharmacology, had applied, with great foresight and considerable courage, the 1865 insights of August Kekulé, the chemist who had accomplished the difficult transition between inorganic and organic chemistry. Indeed, it was Kekulé who made possible the chemical –magic bullet— that could reach body organs to effect therapeutic changes, a realistic goal for Ehrlich, especially in his work associated with the treatment of syphilis.