EARLY HISTORY OF VITAMINS The history of the discovery of the vitamins is an inspirational and exciting account of the ingenuity, dedication and self-sacrifice of many individuals. Excellent reviews of this history and accompanying references can be found in Funk (1922), Harris (1955), McCollum (1957) and Wagner and Folkers (1962). This history section draws on those reviews, sometimes without specific citations, and readers are encouraged to refer to the reviews. The development of the concept of vitamins can be roughly divided into four, broadly overlapping periods: 1) Empirical healing of some diseases through