Reflections on a scientific paper of 1926 by the medical 'Inkling' Robert Emlyn 'Humphrey' Havard (1901-1985).

Robert Emlyn Havard (1901-1985; general practitioner and sometimes medical scientist) was the only non-literary member of the Inklings - a 1930 s and 1940s Oxford University club which included Lewis and Tolkien. Despite spending most of his time in family medicine, Havard was a productive medical scientist. While still a student at Cambridge University, Havard co-authored an influential study published in the Journal of Physiology of 1926 entitled 'The influence of exercise on the inorganic phosphates in the blood and urine'. The style and structure of this paper provides a charming window into the elite medical science of the 1920s.