Charles G. Roland

Dogma and Molecular Biology

I remember vividly the beginnings of molecular biology. For me it began when Schlesinger showed in 1934 that a bacterial virus contained thymonucleic acid—we call it D.N.A. now. Andrewes, Elford, and I were then having a happy time discovering the wide range of physical and biological properties that could be observed amongst the collection of bacteriophages I had brought to Hampstead. I forget whether it has ever been put on record that I obtained most of them on a visit to my brothers farm in Gippsland, Victoria. Cattle, pigs, and fowls all provided their samples of fresh feces, and there was a fine overall yield of phages. One of them, C13, was the first virus with a single strand D.N.A. to be observed, and it is still extant. Our favourite phage at the time was C16, now known to be almost identical with T2 and (as we found in 1933)

Tissue Extracts, Immunological Reaction, and Skin Homografts

This paper describes an enquiry into the possibility of inducing transplantation tolerance in adult mice by combining a number of wellrecognized immunological depressants with an administration of antigen in a nonsensitizing form. In the context of transplantation research the antigen used to procure tolerance has almost invariably taken the form of a suspension or brei containing viable donor cells (or cells syngeneic with the donors). This is objectionable for several reasons. Living cells normally sensitize adult recipients and so shorten the life of future homografts; it would be preferable on almost all counts to administer antigen in such a way that, while it retained other manifestations of its antigenic power— particularly the power to induce tolerance—it did not excite transplantation immunity. Again, for more or less compelling reasons, the cells used to establish tolerance normally consist of, or contain, lymphoid cells. This confuses the interpretation of any state of tolerance

Social Nutrition and Malnutrition

There is an old idea that you can judge a man by the company he keeps. No doubt, the knowledge of the company he has kept would make the judgment even more secure. Folklore and habit put on social experience responsibility for a great deal of what people mean by personality and character. But the step from folklore to science is a long one and the precise description of peoples effects on people, which is a significant part of what contemporary psychiatric research is about, stands very far from being complete. If you roll one billiard ball against another, the measurements of velocity, vectors and angles can be nicely ascertained; the resulting conclusions have a formidable exactness. It is not this way with peoples effects on people and it may never be, but a significant start has been made. One difficulty with human research is, of course, that humans have

Treatment of Carcinoma of the Esophagus

Carcinoma more common diseases of the esophagus, occurring next in frequency to esophagitis and achalasia. It has been stated that the esophagus is the fourth most common site of malignant growths in men past the age of 20. In the United States it accounts for from 5 to 7 percent of all carcinomas in males. In contrast to the ratio of benign to malignant tumors in other organs, malignant lesions of the esophagus are about 100 times more frequent than are benign tumors. General agreement is lacking as to the best method for treating carcinoma of the esophagus. In this disease palliative treatment is of the utmost importance because the cure rate by any method is low and the symptoms referable to interference with the swallowing mechanism are severe and disabling. Therefore in selecting treatment one must think in terms of palliation as well as of cure. Resection for carcinoma

Good Scientific Writing

Anew feature begins in this issue of theArchives. Each month we will reprint scientific articles or portions of articles which seem well written. This material will appear regularly on advertising pages 11, 12, and 14. My search for these articles began several years ago when participants in American Medical Association-Education and Research Foundation medical writing seminars asked for models to follow in their writing. There exists no convenient source, no collection, of good scientific prose; we hope the new section will help supply this want. What is good scientific writing? No answer to this question can satisfy all inquirers, for goodness is always a subjective quality. Although part of the goodness of good writing comes from the absence of errors, correctness does not itself guarantee goodness. The purpose of scientific writing is to convey information, not display literary innovation. There is no place in scientific prose for the stylistic