Serendipity

　　A middle-aged man was taken to my hospital having been seriously injured by falling down from the height of three meters, while he had been repairing the roof of his house. While doing the treatment, I asked him about his medical history. He was on medication for alcoholism.
　　Human beings are roughly classified into three categories, i.e. Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid. The Japanese have a low tolerance for alcohol like other Mongoloids and alcoholism is not such a big social issue as it is in western countries. However, two deterrents are on sale in Japan. One of them is disulfiram, which was prescribed for the aforementioned person.
　　I wondered how or why disulfiram had been created. I looked for the pharmaceutical literature and found an interesting fact as follows:
　　This medicine was developed in Sweden. A researcher, who was struggling to find new substances which improve the behaviour of gum, became sick from regular drinking at his home. Further examination revealed that his sickness was caused by some substances he handled on the day. He apparently absorbed them through his nose and skin. The substance which had made him sick was detected and was commercialized later. It was disulfiram.

(Vocabulary)
serendipity (価値あるものの) 偶然の発見
serendipitous 幸運による
deterrent
1 抑止［制止］するもの, 妨害物
The punishment is designed as a deterrent to future crime. その刑罰は今後の犯罪の抑止をねらったものだ．
Window locks are an effective deterrent against burglars. 窓のかぎは有効な防犯対策だ．
act/serve as a deterrent  抑止力となる
2 軍事［核］抑止力
Britain's nuclear deterrent  英国の核抑止力