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PAULING, Linus (1901-1994). Autograph manuscript signed (‘Linus Pauling’), a scientific abstract entitled ‘Ascorbic Acid and the Immune Process’, n.p., 1979.
Four pages, 278 x 209mm (staples removed). Provenance: Bonhams New York, 15 December 2008, lot 2040.
Linus Pauling and Vitamin C advocacy: an introductory abstract for a paper on the benefits of ascorbic acid for the immune system, co-written with his longstanding collaborator, the British cancer surgeon Ewan Cameron. Opening ‘There is significant evidence that natural resistance to neoplastic disease governs the incidence of clinical cancer’, the abstract continues ‘It is believed that the natural immune process may have great importance in controlling cancer (a discussion is given by Cameron and Pauling, 1974). In collaboration with Professor George Feigen of the Department of Physiology of Stanford University we have initiated some studies of the role of ascorbic acid in the manufacture of antibodies and the interaction of antibodies and antigens, with the guinea pig as the experimental animal’. An overview of the promising results from trials with guinea pigs is then given.
Pauling's work on vitamin C – or ascorbic acid – proved controversial. After coming across the work of biochemist Irwin Stone in 1966, the double Nobel laureate began taking high-dose vitamin C daily; personally convinced of its efficacy in preventing colds, he began to investigate the field himself, publishing Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970. In 1971, he began work with Ewan Cameron, studying the use of vitamin C in the treatment of cancer; later revaluation by the medical establishment of two studies undertaken by the two men during the 1970s resulted in their claims for the benefits of vitamin C being called into question.
Four pages, 278 x 209mm (staples removed). Provenance: Bonhams New York, 15 December 2008, lot 2040.
Linus Pauling and Vitamin C advocacy: an introductory abstract for a paper on the benefits of ascorbic acid for the immune system, co-written with his longstanding collaborator, the British cancer surgeon Ewan Cameron. Opening ‘There is significant evidence that natural resistance to neoplastic disease governs the incidence of clinical cancer’, the abstract continues ‘It is believed that the natural immune process may have great importance in controlling cancer (a discussion is given by Cameron and Pauling, 1974). In collaboration with Professor George Feigen of the Department of Physiology of Stanford University we have initiated some studies of the role of ascorbic acid in the manufacture of antibodies and the interaction of antibodies and antigens, with the guinea pig as the experimental animal’. An overview of the promising results from trials with guinea pigs is then given.
Pauling's work on vitamin C – or ascorbic acid – proved controversial. After coming across the work of biochemist Irwin Stone in 1966, the double Nobel laureate began taking high-dose vitamin C daily; personally convinced of its efficacy in preventing colds, he began to investigate the field himself, publishing Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970. In 1971, he began work with Ewan Cameron, studying the use of vitamin C in the treatment of cancer; later revaluation by the medical establishment of two studies undertaken by the two men during the 1970s resulted in their claims for the benefits of vitamin C being called into question.
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