APPENDIX B 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON 

 THE BIOLOGY CODE AND KEY AND THE CBCC PROCEDURES 



Specificity and Adaptability of the Biology Code : 



The CBCC Biology Code makes no pretense at being complete in terms of the categories of infor- 

 mation nor of the items of any one category. Furthermore, the classification schemes or organization 

 of items within any one information category (e.g. , the organization of biological states, qualities, 

 and processes in Field T-2) may not be entirely satisfactory for coding every type of biological data. 

 For example, if there were wanted to be established a file of information about certain plants, not 

 especially for information about their responses to chemicals, but about their geographical origins, 

 their products, their diseases, and their cultivation requirements, the CBCC Biology Code would hardly 

 be expected to be used in its entirety; moreover, entire new categories of information, such as factors 

 of cultivation, would need to be organized and assigned symbols. Similarly, a file of clinical infor- 

 mation on pathology would demand a code for describing pathological conditions far in excess of the 

 Pathology Code of the Biology Code's Field E which needs to include only those pathologies apt to be 

 experimentally treated with chemicals. At the same time that the Code is not complete in the sense of 

 the foregoing examples, some of the information categories and items within the categories would not 

 be applicable or necessary for coding certain other types of biological data. For example, a file of 

 information restricted to toxic effects on humans would need but a fraction of the terms now included 

 in the Code's Fields T-1 and T-2, nor would a Taxonomy Code and several others of the CBCC Code's 

 fields be needed. 



On the other hand, in meeting the objectives of the Center, the CBCC Biology Code is no longer 

 regarded as an experimental code for chemical-biological information, except that any of the existing 

 individual sections is candidate for additions, deletions, or rearrangements of items, or of being 

 omitted entirely, if further experience indicates these changes are appropriate. Establishing in the 

 CBCC system provisions for coding new categories of biological information is not impossible, though 

 it would require deleting present fields of the Code to provide room on the IBM punched card for any 

 new fields, or expanding into a second IBM punched card for each code line, or converting to another 

 mechanical system, such as electronic tape. 



Therefore, the CBCC Biology Code must be examined and evaluated in the light of its specialized 

 intent, the coding of information from tests for effects of chemicals on biological systems. However, 

 at the same time that the Code as a whole has been developed, each of its parts has always been 

 regarded as capable of being used independently and, to that extent, being applicable or adaptable 

 for coding many types of biological information. Thus, beyond the specific use for which the total 

 CBCC Biology Code was developed, it should be regarded as a series of coding patterns which this 

 project has found adequate, any of which might be the basis for elaboration or simplification to fit 

 other coding and indexing needs. 



Coding of Physical Properties of Chemicals : 



The CBCC had intended to expand its files to include the coding of physical properties of 

 chemicals tested for biological effects, with the objective of making that information on physical 

 properties available for correlation with biological responses. Regrettably, the design of a physical 

 properties code was never accomplished for the CBCC use, though a number of conferences were held 

 to discuss and plan it. 



Beyond the significance of physical properties of chemicals as a correlative with biological 

 responses, the CBCC recognized the need for a central reference depository for information on physical 

 properties. The importance of this is reflected in the fact that there has been recently established a 

 center whose objectives are precisely the collection of this information and developing both a code 

 for thermophysical properties of chemicals and a procedure for storing the coded information for mechan- 

 ical retrieval. In January of 1957, by coincidence the date immediately subsequent to the closing of 

 the CBCC, the Thermophysical Properties Research Center was established at Purdue University, 

 within the University's School of Mechanical Engineering, cooperatively financed by a large number 

 of industrial organizations and governmental research agencies. This center was conceived quite 



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