FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 348:83-84 January 2, 2003 Number 1 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited Related Article PubMed Citation

To the Editor: With all due respect to Drs. Lepreau and Boylston (Aug. 29 issue),^1,2 I would propose that the earliest clinical trial was neither Watson's study of smallpox³ nor Lind's study of the prevention of scurvy.⁴ The first published report of a clinical trial has biblical origins. In the Book of Daniel,⁵ reference is made to the unwillingness of the Israelite Daniel to accept the diet offered by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. The king's official had put a steward in charge of Daniel and his three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego):

Daniel said to the steward . . . . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Letters:

Clinical Investigation in the 18th Century
Lepreau F. J., Boylston A. W.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2002; 347:692, Aug 29, 2002. Correspondence

HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2008 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.