FOREWORD 



This manual has been prepared as a guide to the use of symbols of the CBCC Biology Code for 

 coding information about tests for biological responses to chemicals. It is also a description and ex- 

 planation for each of the Code's parts. 



The Key and Code must be regarded as a single unit. Their composition reflects the assumption 

 that one volume will always be accompanied by the other. 



The development and use of the Biology Code is discussed, against the background of the history, 

 objectives, and procedures of the Chemical-Biological Coordination Center, in the Introduction and 

 Appendix included with the Code. In that Introduction, the Key is described and the need for it is ex- 

 plained. In the Foreword to the Code, the definition of a field and the divisions of the Code into fields 

 are explained; the major divisions of the Key follow those of the Code. 



The frequency of cross references in the Key has demanded a standard nomenclature for its parts. 

 In each field, the three major parts are referred to as sections ; the sections, particularly the Specific 

 Directions and Explanations Section of each field's description, are organized into numbered divisions , 

 under some of which it has been convenient to make lettered sub-divisions . 



The first section of each field describes such things as (1) the extent of the area of the field, in 

 terms of the number of IBM punched card columns used, (2) the classification scheme of the items of the 

 field, (3) the way symbols have been assigned or constructed according to the classification of the items, 

 and (4) the number of items, of the particular category represented by the field, needed by the CBCC. 



The second section of each field's discussion, General Use, describes briefly the nature of the 

 items classified and coded in the field and the relationship of the field to all other fields relative to 

 coding, as a whole, information from chemical-biological tests. 



The final section is devoted to more specific details of directions and cautions for use of the 

 code symbols and to explanations for coding patterns. In each field, the final divisions of this section 

 indicate briefly what symbols are available for expansion of the field, whether the CBCC has established 

 a special file of IBM punched cards arranged according to entries in the field, and whether more than a 

 single code entry can be made in any of the code boxes of the Code Sheet (and consequently, whether 

 only one or two or more separate symbols having distinct meanings can be punched in the same column 

 of a single IBM punched card). 



With regard to the structure of symbols, it will be discovered that within any given field, the 

 code symbols are constructed according to a special pattern appropriate to the classification of the 

 items of the field. Making the code symbols for the field actually represents a coding process for the 

 items of that particular field, preliminary to and separate from the ultimate process of coding chemical- 

 biological data using those previously prepared symbols. This process can be visualized as restricted 

 to coding information about each item within a given field according to appropriate identifying criteria 

 or indexes. In certain fields, the complexity and number of the items are such that this preliminary 

 coding process, resulting in symbols for the field, demands special attention and considerable expla- 

 nation. For example, in Field E, symbols for test organisms are constructed to carry specification of 

 the phylum, class, order, family, and genus to which each species belongs. Likewise, in Field H, 

 the symbols reflect the major system to which each specific organ of this list belongs. Any and all 

 explanations for this process are part of that first Key section for each field. 



Attention is called to Field E of the Code ; it is seen to be composed of three separate parts for 

 the three separate categories which can be coded in the Field. The three categories are (1) test 

 organisms, (2) tumors, and (3) pathologies, one or the other of which represents the biological system 

 treated (for the coding of which Field E is intended) in every chemical-biological test. Thus, Field E 

 is made up of the Taxonomy (Test Organism) Code, Tumor Code, and Pathology Code. In the Key , 

 separate sections have been appended for each of the Taxonomy Code, Tumor Code, and Pathology Code, 

 explaining the information coded into the symbol for each organism, the symbol for each tumor, and the 

 symbol for each pathology. These three sections are actually comparable to the initial (Organization) 

 section of other fields; at the beginning of the General Discussion of Field E, the brief Organization 

 section functions primarily to refer to the three later sections that substitute for it. In the General 

 Discussion of Field E, prior to the three special sections just described, the section on Specific 



