Inference and suggestion in a clinical trial (Niamid in Mongolism)

Extract

At the International Symposium on Niamid (nialamide)—1-/2¹—(benzylcarbamyl) ethyl/2-iso-nicotinoyl hydrazine—a mono-amine oxidase inhibitor, held in Lisbon in November, 1959, T. S. Davies reported that a 35-year-old mongol of imbecile grade, who had previously been inert and who had never spoken, gradually began to speak in monosyllables and, after two months on the drug, was able to converse in short sentences, showed increased physical activity and was able to undertake simple domestic tasks. It is not clear exactly what dosage of Niamid this patient received, but it was within the range of 30 mgm to 75 mgm daily. This report received wide publicity, out of its context, in the lay press, with its inevitable tendency to give the impression that a treatment of mongolism had been discovered, an impression which it is perhaps unnecessary to say Davies had certainly not intended to give.