In the 18th century, a midwife in Friesland, in the northern part of The Netherlands, kept meticulous records of her professional activities.' Her name was Catherina Schradcr. In the periods 1722- 23 and 1732-33 she reported a high amount of six births of babies with neural tube defects in 3100 babies' (1.9:1000). Both period;, Accmed to correspond with unusually poor crops. The neural tube defects occurred mainly in babies of poor urban women, who likely had reduced access to good sources of nutrition. Now, on the basis of current knowledge of the relationship between the development of NTD and a poor periconceptional supply of folic acid, we can state that, Shrader's records may indicate a deficiency of this B vitamin.