Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2322

CASIMIR FUNK (1884-1967) Die Vitamine. J. F. Bergmann 1922 2nd ed. 448 pp., illus. 24.5 cm.

Funk, the eminent Polish biochemist, studied at Geneva and Bern where he received his Ph.D. in 1904 and later, while working in London, a D.Sc. from the University of London in 1913. During his professional career he worked at various universities, research institutes, and pharmaceutical firms in France, Germany, England, and the United States. Funk coined the term vitamin and discovered thiamine, the first vitamin to be isolated. In addition to his pioneering work in vitaminology, he investigated male and female hormones, gonadotropic hormones, antagonistic substances in the diet, deficiency diseases in cattle, and the importance of oncotine and oncostimuline in the treatment and prevention of cancer. Funk first published the present work in 1914 and deferred publication of this second edition because of World War I. By the time this greatly revised edition was published, much of the basic work on the role of vitamin B, in beriberi, vitamin C in scurvy, and vitamin D in rickets had been completed. Building on Funk's basic research in vitaminology, modern-day scientists have greatly expanded our knowledge of vitamins and their vital role in growth and metabolism.

Cited references: Cushing F375 (1st ed., 1914); Garrison-Morton 1051 (1st ed.)

Gift of Mrs. Ida Schlapp