Letter

JOHN Emsley's report on Linus Pauling ('Expert on molecules', 21 August) says of his claims about vitamin C that 'the weight of scientific evidence was against him'. But, as to cancer, for example, a test of 30,000 people reported in the Lancet on 28 November 1981 did support his claims. The famous Mayo Clinic trial was invalid; the patients had previously received cytotoxic drugs.

Sir Thomas Bazley, Cirencester