Deficiency diseases “were considered for years either as intoxications by food or as infectious diseases, and twenty years of experimental work were necessary to show that diseases occur which are caused by a deficiency of some essential substances in the food. Although this view is not yet generally accepted, there is now sufficient evidence to convince everybody of its truth, if the trouble be taken to follow step by step the development of our knowledge on this subject.”
“This article is written with the intention of giving a summary of the modern investigations, and by means of a careful selection of references to facilitate the research for anybody who wishes to read the original literature. This careful selection was absolutely necessary, for there is perhaps no other subject in medicine where so many contradictory and inexact statements were made, which instead of advancing the research retarded it by leading investigators in a wrong direction.”
from: Casimir Funk. The etiology of the deficiency diseases. Beri-beri, polyneuritis in birds, epidemic dropsy, scurvy, experimental scurvy in animals, infantile scurvy, ship beri-beri, pellagra. The Journal of State Medicine. 20: 341-368, 1912. (full-text)
