FOREWORD 



This monograph on the role of algae and plank- 

 ton in medicine is a timely one. It is, so far as the present writer knows, 

 the only medical survey of the field, and it appears at a time when special- 

 ists in various non-medical branches of biology are exhibiting a keen inter- 

 est in the subject. The literature is expanding so rapidly that it may soon 

 be difficult to keep abreast of the advances. 



Although algae and plankton have been empirically utilized as food 

 since ancient times, scientific observations were at first limited mainly to 

 academic botanical aspects In recent years, world food shortages have 

 focused attention on the nutritional utility of these substances for man and 

 the animals upon which he is dependent. An important corollary — the 

 relationship of these forms of life to clinical medicine — appears to have 

 been neglected until the present publication. 



It should be stressed at the outset that the authors have been content 

 merely to point out the great medical potential of algae and plankton, 

 rather than to promote panaceas. Nor have they sought, with their his- 

 torical references, to justify various dietary regimens and practices of 

 primitive medicine. The fact that additional investigations might rationally 

 explain ancient or aboriginal medical practices is presented merely as a 

 matter of interest rather than importance. 



However, in the opinion of this writer, no apology would be necessary 

 even if the authors had utilized the historical approach and examined 

 modern medicine in the light of primitive conceptions. Even Hippocrates, 

 in his "On Ancient Medicine," stated that the greatest medical discovery 

 up to his time (400 B.C.) had involved countless experiments ranging 

 from field to kitchen and finally resulted in the baking of bread. Perhaps 

 the discovery of sugar was almost as complex. The historical approach 

 would also have revealed that cinchona for malaria, ipecac for amoebic 

 dysentery, chaulmoogra for leprosy, iron filings for anemia, and digitalis 

 for the heart all represent refinements of the dross of folk medicine and 

 likewise require no apology. Pertinent examples can be cited from medi- 



