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

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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.
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N Engl J Med 2002; 347:692, Aug 29, 2002. Correspondence

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