of Information on Code Sheets. In one of these, a duplicate of each of the cards of the Chemistry 

 Rotated File (described immediately above) is filed according to Chemistry Serial Numbers. The fourth 

 file contains the punched cards for only the compounds obtained and distributed for testing by the 

 special CBCC Screening Program and was useful mostly for reference to that program. 



Miscellaneous Files : 



The process of collecting chemical-biological information (selecting, coding, checking, and 

 otherwise processing it) demanded keeping careful records at the Center and there were several files 

 needed for this. The files maintained for all this processing cannot be described in detail here. One 

 example is the file maintained for each of the journals reviewed for information, to avoid duplication 

 of review and coding and to provide a current record of the segment of literature covered by the collec- 

 tion in the CBCC files. Another example was the file of authors and articles coded, though this was 

 used solely for assistance in maintaining Sets of Code Sheets as they were coded, checked, arbitrated, 

 processed by chemists, etc. Neither of these two files was referenced through Chemical Serial Number 

 to the Biology Code Sheet File and they could not (nor were they intended) to be used for reassembling 

 coded information from a given journal or article or by a given author, after the Code Sheets were filed. 



The Chemistry 3" x 6" Index Card Files have already been described in the preceding section 

 dealing with the recording and coding of chemicals. 



The Center maintained limited files of original data which had been coded and punched. One 

 file contained miscellaneous publications or unpublished compilations of test results, retained for 

 practical reasons of reference. Also, a file was maintained of the reports from the Center's own 

 Screening Program. The Center did not purchase and maintain any of the many periodical publications 

 from which data was selected, but depended solely on libraries available to its non-resident coders 

 and those of the Washington, D. C. , area. 



V. CBCC PROCEDURES FOR SELECTION, CODING, PROCESSING. 

 AND FILING CHEMICAL- BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION 



The following will be limited to descriptions of procedures used by the CBCC in collecting and 

 storing information. The methods for handling the coded and punched information, once it was integrated 

 into the CBCC files, is dealt with elsewhere in the Appendixes and in the Introduction. In Appendix B, 

 time needed for the procedures described below is discussed under the heading. Currency of the CBCC 

 Files. 



Selection of Chemical-Biological Information : 



The quantity of information of chemical effects on biological systems is so vast that the CBCC, 

 with its limited staff and means, could not pretend to be able to collect but a part of it. In view of 

 this, emphasis was placed on obtaining information known not to have been published or to have been 

 published obscurely and which is therefore less apt to be indexed in other places. On the other hand, 

 a serious effort was made by the CBCC, within the limits of its means, to review the current literature 

 for all appropriate data. This review regularly included the journals determined by a preliminary survey 

 to be most rewarding in terms of the quantity of information on chemical-biological tests included in 

 them. 



A restriction in this selection was that of omitting clinical data on responses to chemotherapy. 

 While this policy was not followed slavishly to the total exclusion of any data that can be conceivably 

 regarded as being clinical, it was adhered to generally. This was not because clinical data were 

 regarded as without value, but because they so frequently lack the experimental control typical of 

 laboratory-conducted tests and tend to be repetitious. Had adequate facilities and staff been avail- 

 able, the CBCC would have collected all clinical data and included them in its coded files. 



In 1951, when the procedures for selection of information were established, it was decided to 

 attempt to review back to 1946 all issues of the journals selected for routine review while, at the 

 same time, reviewing current issues. For most of those journals, this was successfully accomplished. 



All review of the literature and selection of information from other sources was made by the 

 resident biology staff of the Center. Each staff member assumed responsibility for a quota of scien- 

 tific journals, including those specialized journals of his own field of scientific interest and training. 



211 



