SERENDIPITY, OR HOW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS ARE SOMETIMES GENERATED

摘要

Heinrich Finkelstein (1865-1942), convinced at the beginning of the twentieth century that diarrhea in infancy was metabolic in nature, formulated a high protein milk for infant feeding in 1906 which he called "Eiweissmilch" (Cone TE Jr: 200 Years of Feeding Infants in America. Columbus, Ohio, Ross Laboratories, 1976, p 81). This was introduced into the literature in 1910 in association with L. F. Meyer ( Jahrbuch für Kinderheilkunde 71:525, 1910) and became quite popular in the United States for a while. The following is an interesting anecdote about how Finkelstein hit upon the idea, told to me by Dr. Robert Rosenthal, formerly of Vienna, now in St. Paul, Minnesota:I was at Finkelstein's clinic in 1923 and he told me how he hit on the idea of Eiweissmilk. At that time one of the most feared intestinal disturbances was the diarrhea secondary to other infections—which was so very often fatal. Despondent about any clue as to how to treat these infants, he took a walk. There he observed a dog defecating. The dog had a lot of trouble because dogs usually are rather constipated. Then came the idea: dogs eat almost 100% protein food! How about trying that, he thought.