Reflections

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Volume 21 · Number 1 ¦ Autumn 1977 REFLECTIONS Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, a relatively youngjournal, is enjoying good health. When I founded it 20 years ago the odds were against its survival past the first year. As a scientist I regarded it as an experiment with a high failure potential. The University of Chicago Press, running a scholarly deficit at that time, shared this thought and refused to assume responsibility for thejournal. Dr. Lowell T. Coggeshall, Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences of the University of Chicago, came to our aid with an offer of divisional sponsorship for a period of five years. Friends in industry responded to our appeal for grants so that we did not have to draw on University funds. The gist ofPerspectives—the communication of ideas—has been copied by newer journals in the biomedical field. Essays have reflected the trends of the times. For example, a number of our authors have discussed human rights and freedom and medical and ethical concerns in medical research and practice—sometimes before the issues became popular. Twenty years later I take vicarious pleasure in thejournal as presently edited. I enjoy the new humor column; I applaud the Perspectives Writing Award Contest for writers under 35 years of age. It has attracted some delightfully heuristic essays. As a person who twice flunked bonehead English—I claim a record—I could not have placed among them. At the age of 35 I was still the despair of advisers and editors. But I am proud to have helped create ajournai which attracts gifted authors. I hope that an infinite amount of time is allotted for its continued publication .—DwightJ. Ingle Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1977 | 1 ...