II. THE BIOLOGY CODE SHEET 



The earliest CBCC coding was on special 8-1/2" x 11" sheets referred to as "work sheets". 

 The sheets were redesigned to fit the final pattern of the Code (the fifth edition) and have since been 

 termed "Code Sheets". On these Code Sheets, coders translate the information into code symbols, 

 accompanying the coding with a written abstract. The Code Sheets bear reference to the source of in- 

 formation and the identity of the specific test compound, as well as a reference to themselves, a num- 

 ber which is assigned to each Code Sheet after it is coded and which facilitates its retrieval after 

 being filed in a special Code Sheet File. The Code Sheets are 17" x U". For filing and ease in 

 handling, they are folded once to become 8-1/2" x 11". A Code Sheet is illustrated on the following 

 pages. 



On the inner side of the Code Sheet (Figure 5), sixty-five of the eighty columns of the IBM 

 punched card are depicted (Columns 9 through 71, 78 and 79). These are organized into several areas 

 or "fields", each of which represents a distinct type of information commonly associated with tests for 

 biological responses to chemicals. A description of the type of information assigned to each field is 

 printed at the top of the Code Sheet, as a "title" of the field. Below this area naming the coding fields 

 (regarding the lower long edge of the Sheet as the bottom edge), the Sheet is divided into four equal 

 areas by horizontal rulings. The areas are labelled as I, 11, III, and IV on the Code Sheet illustration. 

 Considering only one of these areas, it will be seen to consist of two bands across the Sheet (labelled 

 as A and B in the illustration), the broader of which is divided by vertical rulings according to coding 

 fields and the narrower of which is divided according to the sixty-five IBM columns. In the broader 

 band is written the information about the test; for example, the name of the test organism, tumor, or 

 pathology is written in Field E, a description of the response is written in Fields T- 1 and T-2, the 

 exact dose administered is written in Fields M and/or N, etc. This, then, represents a written abstract 

 of the test, to be filed and to which reference is made from the IBM punched card index. The area is 

 referred to throughout the Code and Key as the "written abstract" portion of the code line or sometimes 

 as the "language" portion. In the narrow band, the information is coded, placing the code symbols from 

 the Biology Code in the appropriate "code boxes", in other words, in the places representing the appro- 

 priate IBM punched card columns. Completed, this written abstract and the coding of the information 

 represents one "code line". On each Sheet, then, space is provided for four code lines, each repre- 

 senting one action of a given chemical tested (i. e. , one response of an organism) as shown by any 

 one test from any given source of information. As a reference from the IBM punched card to the code 

 line, each line is numbered (at the right end of the line) and this reference number ("Line No. ") is 

 punched in Columns 78 and 79 of the IBM card. 



As indicated previously, each Code Sheet is assigned a reference number (the Code Sheet 

 Number) which is placed at the upper right corner of the inner surface of the Code Sheet and is punched 

 in Columns 72 through 77 of the IBM card. This Code Sheet Number has no significance other than a 

 reference number. It is used in filing (see the description of the Code Sheet Files) and it assists in 

 keeping records of the Sheets as they are checked, processed by chemists, punched, etc. The Numbers 

 are assigned strictly by the sequence of the Code Sheets being returned from the coder. In referring to 

 them, the term "serial" has never been applied in order to avoid confusion with the number designations 

 assigned to chemicals which the CBCC commonly refers to as the "CBCC Serial Number". 



The "CBCC Chemical Serial Number" referred to above (which has been abbreviated to "CBC 

 Number") is placed in the upper left corner of the inner side of the Biology Code Sheet. This number 

 is a reference to the identity of the chemical tested and will be explained in the next section, dis- 

 cussing the coding of chemical information. 



Because one compound may be reported from a single information source as having been dem- 

 strated to have caused several responses or it may have been tested in several ways, four code lines 

 are frequently not sufficient. The coder then uses a second Code Sheet (a "continuation Sheet") or 

 as many Sheets as are necessary to record all information about that one compound from that one infor- 

 mation source; all of these Code Sheets, the first and all the continuation Sheets, are assigned the 

 same Code Sheet Number. At the top of the Sheet and to the right of the center, the coder indicates 

 the total number of Code Sheets used for this purpose (note the designation, "of Total") and, of that 

 total, the sequential number which the Code Sheet represents ("Sheet No. "), the initial Sheet being 

 Sheet No. 1, the first continuation Sheet being Sheet No. 2, etc. 



Finally, a space is provided at the top of the Sheet in which the coder and the person checking 

 the coding enter their identifying initials ("Coded by" and "Checked by"). If it proves that coding 



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