PEDIATRICS Vol. 61 No. 6 June 1978, pp. 831
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A 17TH CENTURY ENGLISH CURE FOR RICKETS

T. E. C. Jr. M.D.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) in an essay written probably in 1663 left the curious information that in Norwich, England, the livers of rooks were used for the cure of rickets:

Spermalegous rooks which by reason of the great quantity of cornfields and rook groves, are in great plenty. The young ones are commonly eaten; sometimes sold in Norwich market, and many are killed for their livers, in order to cure the Rickets.

This therapeutic note is of particular historical significance because it was written less than 20 years after Glisson's classic description of the disease (1650) and more than 150 years before the first report of the value of cod liver oil in the treatment of rickets (1824).