Interesting that the cure for scurvy is used as the example of the first clinical trial. The story is an instructive one, since the real reason for the cure was

Interesting that the cure for scurvy is used as the example of the first clinical trial. The story is an instructive one, since the real reason for the cure was not understood, leading to the cure being lost for ~150 years, due to a variety of bad assumptions, eg that it was the acidity of the fruit that was preventing scurvy. This lead to lemons being replaced with limes (that had far less vitamin C but were more acidic) because they could be sourced from within the British Empire rather than outside. Long article here: http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm and shorter summary of above here: https://lonechemist.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/82/ https://lonechemist.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/82/