STATISTICAL TREATMENT 251 



all have the same general aim. They attempt, broadly speaking, to take 

 a number of observations in quantitative form and sum them up in a few 

 meaningful constants, the sampling variation of these constants always 

 being taken into consideration. The value of the statistical method does 

 not lie, however, in the mere determination of these constants, but rather 

 in the fact that by expressing our scientific ideas in quantitative form we 

 tend toward a more logical treatment of the particular problem in which 

 we are interested. One not infrequently sees papers in which the 

 observations have been given statistical treatment, but the constants 

 seem to have been derived because they are fashionable, since at no time 

 have they been used for the development of the scientific argument. 

 Statistical constants should not be derived hit or miss, but the treatment 

 given any particular problem should be in line with the scientific question 

 asked, in which case the results will lend themselves directly to the 

 development of our line of thought. 



REFERENCES 



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 cleavage in some marine invertebrate eggs. Amer. Jour. Roentg. and Rad. 

 Ther. 27 : 890-898. 1932. 



2. Laurens, H. The physiological effects of radiant energy, (p. 175.) The 

 Chemical Catalog Company; New York, 1933. 



3. Packard, C. The biological effects of short radiations. Quart. Rev. Biol. 

 6:253-280. 1931. 



4. Packard, C. A biological measure of X-ray dosage. Jour. Cancer Res. 11 : 

 282-292. 1927. 



5. Pearl, R. Introduction to medical biometrj^ and statistics. 2nd ed. W. B. 

 Saunders Company; Philadelphia, 1932. 



6. Robertson, Muriel. The effect of gamma-ray irradiation upon the growth of 

 a protozoon, Bodo caudatus. Quart. Jour. Microsc. Sci. N. S. 299: 511-541. 

 1932. 



7. Russ, S., S. Wright, H. A. Bulman, and L. H. Clark. The physiological and 

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8. Sievert, R., and A. Forssberg. The time factor in the biological action of 

 X-rays. Acta Radiol. 12: 535-551. 1931. 



9. Tippett, L. H. C. The methods of statistics. Williams and Norgate, Ltd.; 

 London, 1931. 



10. Yule, G. U. An introduction to the theory of statistics. 10th ed. C. Griffin & 

 Company; London, 1932. 



Manuscript received by the editor August, 1934. 



