August 1, 1968

Dr. Irwin Stone

208 Winchester Avenue

Staten Island, N. Y. 10312

Dear Dr. Stone:

Thank you very much for your letter.

I shall be interested to learn how great a success Dr. Hoffer has in his use of ascorbic acid in treating schizophrenia. I know that some of his patients have shown a good response to ascorbic acid alone - he sent me a report on one of them, last year.

We find ascorbic acid in the urine of everybody that we test, but in much smaller amounts for a good number of schizophrenics than for the average of other people.

In answer to your question, I can report that both my wife and I have been less troubled by colds during the last two years, during which we have been taking 3 to 5 grams of ascorbic a day, than we had been before beginning your regimen.

I would be interested to know what your arguments are about megascorbic therapy in leukemia. I suppose that one might argue that leucocytes are known to require ascorbic acid, to be effective, and that if the concentration of ascorbic acid is too low, so that they are ineffective, the body tries to make up the deficiency by manufacturing more of the leucocytes. Perhaps you would send me a copy of your unpublished paper, to satisfy my curiosity about your arguments - that is, why should megascorbic acid therapy be recommended for leukemia, and not for other diseases.

Thanks very much for the copy of your fourth paper.

Sincerely,

Linus Pauling