A great book RTCs is Ben Goldacre's Bad Science (http://www.badscience.net/ http://www.badscience.net/) He points out that some of the first clinical trials re

A great book RTCs is Ben Goldacre's Bad Science (http://www.badscience.net/ http://www.badscience.net/) He points out that some of the first clinical trials recorded were in the bible. I couldn't find his quote, but I found an NEJM piece that references the same thing, although I think its in a nutrition debate. "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 . . . “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's rich food be observed by you, and according to what you see deal with your servants.” So he hearkened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's rich food. So the steward took away their rich food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables." (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200301023480120 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200301023480120)