Penicillin nontoxic in humans by first performing toxicity tests in animals and then on humans. His subsequent experiments on penicillin's response to heat and pH allowed Fleming to increase the stability of the compound. The one test that modern scientists would find missing from his work was the test of penicillin on an infected animal, the results of which would likely have sparked great interest in penicillin and sped its development by almost a decade. The importance of his work has been recognized by the placement of an International Historic Chemical Landmark at the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum in London on
Penicillin "Penicillium" mould. Fleming asked C. J. La Touche to help identify the mould, which he incorrectly identified as "Penicillium rubrum" (later corrected by Charles Thom). He expressed initial optimism that penicillin would be a useful disinfectant, because of its high potency and minimal toxicity in comparison to antiseptics of the day, and noted its laboratory value in the isolation of "Bacillus influenzae" (now called "Haemophilus influenzae"). Fleming was a famously poor communicator and orator, which meant his findings were not initially given much attention. He was unable to convince a chemist to help him extract and stabilize the antibacterial compound