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Is it really irreproducible?
TIBS - May 1976
N 99 in JIR was obscurantism (how to publish without actually revealing the significant results one has gained). I even published a paper on ‘Principles and Methods of Obscurantism’ in NeM, Scientist [4]. This paper caught the fancy of the Editor of the Journal qf’Nava1 Engineering, and with my permission this paper was reprinted oxygens, of course). When we were at a there. Some time later I received a package loss what to do, another chemist had the from the British Naval Attache in Ankara bright idea of substituting some rare ele- (Turkey). The package contained a copy ments in the molecule (such as Americium, of June 1969 issue of J. Naval Eng. with Rhenium, Titanium and Deuterium). The the reprinted paper on obscurantism. new molecule, which was synthetized, now What amazed me most about this copy had the following structure: was the sentence on its cover: ‘This information is disclosed only for official use N-Am-Ti-N-Am-Ti --by the recipient Government and such of Ii ke de 0 its contractors, under seal of secrecy, as I may be engaged on a defence project.. .’ D D n 4 Over the years I have collected a large It could be used as a contraceptive in its number of quotations from the genuine polymerized form very effectively. scientific literature. These are either obsI will not go into the additional meta- curantist or just funny because of the unbolic products of these mother compounds usual apposition of words or concepts. The which keen chemists continued to propose. first such sentence that struck my fancy At about that time J. S. Greenstein pubwas the following: ‘The sexual interest lished in the Canadian Medical Association shown by this patient (castrated 13 years Journaf [2] a paper entitled ‘Armpitin previously) appeared to be considerable A New Peerless Contraceptive’. In it he according to the history obtained from the reported on a new contraceptive drug man, his wife, and a third party concerned’ which, when applied to the axillary regions (Proc. Sot. Exp. Biol. Med. (1943), 54, of the female, caused temporary and re- 311). versible sterilization in the male partner By 1965 I had collected a sufficient upon inhalation. Greenstein stumbled number of such quotes to have them pubupon this compound while using it as a lished by Dr George Scherr (the present deodorant in a room housing his animal publisher of JIR) in the form of a booklet entitled ‘Don’t quote me. . .’ colony (the animals stopped breeding). The effects of Armpitin were shown to be To give you a taste of some of these limited to males only, and worked through quotations let me begin with some unusual their sense of smell, causing a reflectory examples of obscurantism: occlusion of their ejaculatory ducts for a ‘The lateral surface, lateral to the number of days equal to the number of anterior border, is anterior, lateral, and NO groups in the molecule. also posterior above, for it extends from Some time later I was startled to read the anterior to the posterior border of the in the Annual Review of Pharmacology [3] radial tuberosity, but is largely lateral in a chapter on ‘Antifertility Agents’ a below; and the posterior surface, narrow straightforward account (a whole page!) and mostly medial above, expands and is of Armpitin. To this day I do not know truly posterior below.’ (W. H. Hollinshead whether the author (Tyler) fooled the edi- (1967) Textbook of Anatomy, 2nd edn, pp. tors of ARP, or both Tyler and the editor 235-236). were in on this hoax. Anyway, I wrote ‘It is suggested that the addition of one to Greenstein and called his attention to or more free radical reaction inhibitors to the ARP review. In his reply he wrote, nutritionally adequate and acceptable ‘. . . now I understand why a French pharnatural diets, selected to minimize the inmaceutical firm asked me for patent rights take of substances (such as polyunsaturfor Armpitin’. ated fats and copper) that might reasonaOne of the aspects of scientific activity bly be expected to significantly increase which fascinates me is the wording of the more-or-less random in vivo free radical titles of some scientific papers. To give reactions, may increase the average age two short examples: ‘An instant of pitfalls at death of man by five or more years prevalent in graveyard research’ (Biome- with accompanying increases in the years trica (1963) 19, 683); and ‘On the free of useful, healthy life.’ (Agents and Actions vibrations of a lecher system’ (Phys. Rev. (1969) 1, 3). ‘Low energy zeros and Reges poles. from (1911) 32, 533). an extended Amanti-BertocchiAnother phenomenon of researchmanFubini-Stang-Hellini-Tonini-multiperiship that I thought worth while satirizing
Is it really irreproducible? Alexander
Kohn
When asked to write an article about my experiences as the Editor of The Journal qf’hreproducible Results (JIR) , I felt like the eighth husband of Zsa-Zsa Gabor who is reputed to have said, ‘I know what to do, but the question ‘is how to make it interesting’. Although I am perhaps better known as the Editor of JIR than anything else, I happen to be a virologist interested in the early effects of the encounter between viruses and the cells they infect. My activity in the irreproducible field has indeed boosted my popularity but has not contributed to my scientific reputation [l]. Recently I published a humorous (I hope) article in the Christmas issue of New Scientist (pardon - Old Scientist!) entitled Transholoencephaloelectronmicroscopy, where 1 used genuine electronmicrographs which I claimed to have extracted directly from the neurons in the brains of my experimental subjects. Some of the electronmicrographs I wished to use had been published in very respectable journals and books, so I sought permission of the authors and the publishers. On two occasions at least I was refused permission to reproduce the pictures - solely on the ground of my infamous reputation as the Editor of JZR. An example of the sort of chain reaction which can be set up by an article in JIR is our pioneer work in the field of contraceptives. The article dealt with a new chemical compound called NO-ACETOL (Fig. 1), the possible use of which we pointed out long before the efftcacy of the pill had been widely recognized. Why is it a contraceptive? Because it has NO in every position. This publication caused a stir among chemists who protested and claimed that NO-ACETOL as such would not work because of its inherent instability due to charges on the nitrogen atoms. :: 0 ‘50 Fig 1 0
A modification was therefore suggested as follows: N-_N__N-_O-0-0 ___ i a ; Others then objected that this would be useless because of the free tail (of the
ij
I II
I1
N 100 pheral model ,’ (P/rj,.s. Kcr. .4hstr. ( I97 1) 2 (19)). Some other delightful quotes that I have enjoyed: ‘The concept of the bladder as an inert container of urine no longer holds water.’ (Lancet (1973) ii. 1425); ‘Most people who are shot realize what has occurred.’ (Arch. Dermurol. (1971) 96, 701);
‘Paleontology is a science which deals with the study of extinct plants and animals that survive today as fossils.’ (Weber & Taylor (1968) Gene4 Biology, p. 3. Van Nostrand, N. J.); ‘It is doubtful that regular people-eating had much nutritional meaning.’ (Amer. Anthropol. (1970) 72, 106);
‘Communication is an important daily aspect of a librarian’s profession. The horizontal relationship is described and a distinction is drawn between it and the vertical relationship. The horizontal relationship is an important communication concept which when mastered by the librarian accrues many personal satisfactions.’ (Spec. Libr. (1975) 66, 528). Early in the history of the JIR, in order to make its existence respectable, I and the co-founder of the journal, H. J. Lipkin of the Weizmann Institute, established the Society for Basic Irreproducible Research (SBIR) and nominated Dr X. Perry Mental as the Secretary. Special indentity cards were issued to the members. The valuable assets these cards were to their proud owners is proved by the story related to me by R.A. Lewin of LaJolla. The saleswoman in a department store in San Diego refused to accept a personal cheque in payment for Lewin’s purchases unless he could establish his identity. She turned down his drivingbcence and social security card, so Lewin in some perplexity handed her his wallet. She flipped with a disapproving expression through his many identification cards, then finally chose the ID card No. 576 of SBIR (issued by X. Perry Mental on 30 February 1960), expressed her satisfaction and accepted the cheque.
Colds, flu and memories Christopher
Andrewes
Many must have noticed the contrast between our success in controlling some of the more devastating plagues and our relative failure with the minor, nuisance diseases, particularly infections of the upper respiratory tract. The difficulties they present offer a challenge; that, I suppose, is why I have spent about 45 years of my working life largely in the study of two of the most important and obstinate, namely influenza and the common cold. The year 1933 was ushered in by a brisk influenza epidemic. With two colleagues, P. P. Laidlaw and Wilson Smith, a serious attempt was made to reproduce the disease in experimental animals. The first material to be tested was a washing from my own throat. Using rabbits, mice and guinea pigs
A. Kohn is Prqftissor of‘Viro1og.vut the Israel Institute for Biologicul Research, Tel-Aviv Uniwrsity Medical Srhool. Ness-Ziona, Isruel.
References 1 A. Kohn (1969) A Journal in which scientists laugh al Science, Impact of’ Science on Society (UNESCOJ 19,259 2 J.S. Greenstein (1965) Canad. Med. Assoc. J. 93. 1351 3 E. T. Tyler (I 967) Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. 7. 395 4 A. Kohn (1970) New Scientist. 29 Jan., 212 The Journal oflrreproducible Results now in its 22nd volume, is published four times a year.
Hill, London, U.K.)
the first experiments were negative. We were then told of a flu-like illness among the staff and also among ferrets at the Wellcome laboratories at Beckenham. Following this clue, washings were dropped up the noses of ferrets and these soon developed fever and nasal discharges [l]. They had, indeed, been infected with influenza virus. It turned out, however, that this success had depended on a sheer fluke: the Beckenham ferrets had not had flu at all, but an abnormal form of dog distemper. Anyway the fluke set us on the right lines. At first there were difficulties: our experimental ferrets came down with accidentally-introduced distemper as well as flu and we were greatly confused. Fortunately for our work, Wilson Smith caught the flu, almost certainly from a
N 99 in JIR was obscurantism (how to publish without actually revealing the significant results one has gained). I even published a paper on ‘Principles and Methods of Obscurantism’ in NeM, Scientist [4]. This paper caught the fancy of the Editor of the Journal qf’Nava1 Engineering, and with my permission this paper was reprinted oxygens, of course). When we were at a there. Some time later I received a package loss what to do, another chemist had the from the British Naval Attache in Ankara bright idea of substituting some rare ele- (Turkey). The package contained a copy ments in the molecule (such as Americium, of June 1969 issue of J. Naval Eng. with Rhenium, Titanium and Deuterium). The the reprinted paper on obscurantism. new molecule, which was synthetized, now What amazed me most about this copy had the following structure: was the sentence on its cover: ‘This information is disclosed only for official use N-Am-Ti-N-Am-Ti --by the recipient Government and such of Ii ke de 0 its contractors, under seal of secrecy, as I may be engaged on a defence project.. .’ D D n 4 Over the years I have collected a large It could be used as a contraceptive in its number of quotations from the genuine polymerized form very effectively. scientific literature. These are either obsI will not go into the additional meta- curantist or just funny because of the unbolic products of these mother compounds usual apposition of words or concepts. The which keen chemists continued to propose. first such sentence that struck my fancy At about that time J. S. Greenstein pubwas the following: ‘The sexual interest lished in the Canadian Medical Association shown by this patient (castrated 13 years Journaf [2] a paper entitled ‘Armpitin previously) appeared to be considerable A New Peerless Contraceptive’. In it he according to the history obtained from the reported on a new contraceptive drug man, his wife, and a third party concerned’ which, when applied to the axillary regions (Proc. Sot. Exp. Biol. Med. (1943), 54, of the female, caused temporary and re- 311). versible sterilization in the male partner By 1965 I had collected a sufficient upon inhalation. Greenstein stumbled number of such quotes to have them pubupon this compound while using it as a lished by Dr George Scherr (the present deodorant in a room housing his animal publisher of JIR) in the form of a booklet entitled ‘Don’t quote me. . .’ colony (the animals stopped breeding). The effects of Armpitin were shown to be To give you a taste of some of these limited to males only, and worked through quotations let me begin with some unusual their sense of smell, causing a reflectory examples of obscurantism: occlusion of their ejaculatory ducts for a ‘The lateral surface, lateral to the number of days equal to the number of anterior border, is anterior, lateral, and NO groups in the molecule. also posterior above, for it extends from Some time later I was startled to read the anterior to the posterior border of the in the Annual Review of Pharmacology [3] radial tuberosity, but is largely lateral in a chapter on ‘Antifertility Agents’ a below; and the posterior surface, narrow straightforward account (a whole page!) and mostly medial above, expands and is of Armpitin. To this day I do not know truly posterior below.’ (W. H. Hollinshead whether the author (Tyler) fooled the edi- (1967) Textbook of Anatomy, 2nd edn, pp. tors of ARP, or both Tyler and the editor 235-236). were in on this hoax. Anyway, I wrote ‘It is suggested that the addition of one to Greenstein and called his attention to or more free radical reaction inhibitors to the ARP review. In his reply he wrote, nutritionally adequate and acceptable ‘. . . now I understand why a French pharnatural diets, selected to minimize the inmaceutical firm asked me for patent rights take of substances (such as polyunsaturfor Armpitin’. ated fats and copper) that might reasonaOne of the aspects of scientific activity bly be expected to significantly increase which fascinates me is the wording of the more-or-less random in vivo free radical titles of some scientific papers. To give reactions, may increase the average age two short examples: ‘An instant of pitfalls at death of man by five or more years prevalent in graveyard research’ (Biome- with accompanying increases in the years trica (1963) 19, 683); and ‘On the free of useful, healthy life.’ (Agents and Actions vibrations of a lecher system’ (Phys. Rev. (1969) 1, 3). ‘Low energy zeros and Reges poles. from (1911) 32, 533). an extended Amanti-BertocchiAnother phenomenon of researchmanFubini-Stang-Hellini-Tonini-multiperiship that I thought worth while satirizing
Is it really irreproducible? Alexander
Kohn
When asked to write an article about my experiences as the Editor of The Journal qf’hreproducible Results (JIR) , I felt like the eighth husband of Zsa-Zsa Gabor who is reputed to have said, ‘I know what to do, but the question ‘is how to make it interesting’. Although I am perhaps better known as the Editor of JIR than anything else, I happen to be a virologist interested in the early effects of the encounter between viruses and the cells they infect. My activity in the irreproducible field has indeed boosted my popularity but has not contributed to my scientific reputation [l]. Recently I published a humorous (I hope) article in the Christmas issue of New Scientist (pardon - Old Scientist!) entitled Transholoencephaloelectronmicroscopy, where 1 used genuine electronmicrographs which I claimed to have extracted directly from the neurons in the brains of my experimental subjects. Some of the electronmicrographs I wished to use had been published in very respectable journals and books, so I sought permission of the authors and the publishers. On two occasions at least I was refused permission to reproduce the pictures - solely on the ground of my infamous reputation as the Editor of JZR. An example of the sort of chain reaction which can be set up by an article in JIR is our pioneer work in the field of contraceptives. The article dealt with a new chemical compound called NO-ACETOL (Fig. 1), the possible use of which we pointed out long before the efftcacy of the pill had been widely recognized. Why is it a contraceptive? Because it has NO in every position. This publication caused a stir among chemists who protested and claimed that NO-ACETOL as such would not work because of its inherent instability due to charges on the nitrogen atoms. :: 0 ‘50 Fig 1 0
A modification was therefore suggested as follows: N-_N__N-_O-0-0 ___ i a ; Others then objected that this would be useless because of the free tail (of the
ij
I II
I1
N 100 pheral model ,’ (P/rj,.s. Kcr. .4hstr. ( I97 1) 2 (19)). Some other delightful quotes that I have enjoyed: ‘The concept of the bladder as an inert container of urine no longer holds water.’ (Lancet (1973) ii. 1425); ‘Most people who are shot realize what has occurred.’ (Arch. Dermurol. (1971) 96, 701);
‘Paleontology is a science which deals with the study of extinct plants and animals that survive today as fossils.’ (Weber & Taylor (1968) Gene4 Biology, p. 3. Van Nostrand, N. J.); ‘It is doubtful that regular people-eating had much nutritional meaning.’ (Amer. Anthropol. (1970) 72, 106);
‘Communication is an important daily aspect of a librarian’s profession. The horizontal relationship is described and a distinction is drawn between it and the vertical relationship. The horizontal relationship is an important communication concept which when mastered by the librarian accrues many personal satisfactions.’ (Spec. Libr. (1975) 66, 528). Early in the history of the JIR, in order to make its existence respectable, I and the co-founder of the journal, H. J. Lipkin of the Weizmann Institute, established the Society for Basic Irreproducible Research (SBIR) and nominated Dr X. Perry Mental as the Secretary. Special indentity cards were issued to the members. The valuable assets these cards were to their proud owners is proved by the story related to me by R.A. Lewin of LaJolla. The saleswoman in a department store in San Diego refused to accept a personal cheque in payment for Lewin’s purchases unless he could establish his identity. She turned down his drivingbcence and social security card, so Lewin in some perplexity handed her his wallet. She flipped with a disapproving expression through his many identification cards, then finally chose the ID card No. 576 of SBIR (issued by X. Perry Mental on 30 February 1960), expressed her satisfaction and accepted the cheque.
Colds, flu and memories Christopher
Andrewes
Many must have noticed the contrast between our success in controlling some of the more devastating plagues and our relative failure with the minor, nuisance diseases, particularly infections of the upper respiratory tract. The difficulties they present offer a challenge; that, I suppose, is why I have spent about 45 years of my working life largely in the study of two of the most important and obstinate, namely influenza and the common cold. The year 1933 was ushered in by a brisk influenza epidemic. With two colleagues, P. P. Laidlaw and Wilson Smith, a serious attempt was made to reproduce the disease in experimental animals. The first material to be tested was a washing from my own throat. Using rabbits, mice and guinea pigs
A. Kohn is Prqftissor of‘Viro1og.vut the Israel Institute for Biologicul Research, Tel-Aviv Uniwrsity Medical Srhool. Ness-Ziona, Isruel.
References 1 A. Kohn (1969) A Journal in which scientists laugh al Science, Impact of’ Science on Society (UNESCOJ 19,259 2 J.S. Greenstein (1965) Canad. Med. Assoc. J. 93. 1351 3 E. T. Tyler (I 967) Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. 7. 395 4 A. Kohn (1970) New Scientist. 29 Jan., 212 The Journal oflrreproducible Results now in its 22nd volume, is published four times a year.
Hill, London, U.K.)
the first experiments were negative. We were then told of a flu-like illness among the staff and also among ferrets at the Wellcome laboratories at Beckenham. Following this clue, washings were dropped up the noses of ferrets and these soon developed fever and nasal discharges [l]. They had, indeed, been infected with influenza virus. It turned out, however, that this success had depended on a sheer fluke: the Beckenham ferrets had not had flu at all, but an abnormal form of dog distemper. Anyway the fluke set us on the right lines. At first there were difficulties: our experimental ferrets came down with accidentally-introduced distemper as well as flu and we were greatly confused. Fortunately for our work, Wilson Smith caught the flu, almost certainly from a