Inborn Factors in Disease

The text contains a reprint of a pioneering work which represented the origin of modern molecular medicine and genetic disease. In this work, Sir Archibald Garrod set out his belief that chemical individuality could result in individuals having a predisposition to certain diseases.

---

Sir Archibald Garrod had a distinguished career in medicine and maintained a lifelong interest in biochemistry. His first book, "Inborn Errors of Metabolism", was published in 1909 and established chemical individuality as the paradigm of Mendelian variation. In the years that followed, Garrod continued to develop the theme of the relationship between chemical individuality and disease and at the end of his career he wrote "Inborn Factors in Disease", in which he set out his belief that chemical individuality could result in individuals having a predisposition to certain diseases. This was published in 1931, but was not well received. Today, the importance of genetic disease is recognized and this work, which contains a complete facsimile reprint of the original text, now represents the origin of modern molecular medicine and genetics in medicine.