Direct or Indirect Biologic Effects

Abstract

The power of an idea is a marvelous thing. Even if the idea be wholly or partly false it is often astonishing how far it will travel before the truth can overtake and either destroy or correct it. When the true explanation of any scientific phenomenon is finally arrived at, its mechanism is generally found to be much simpler than most of the hypotheses previously held concerning it. The simple, the obvious, thing is generally the last to be thought of. Too often we forget that a hypothesis is nothing more than a plausible, but fanciful, explanation of certain observable phenomena, based partly on certain known facts, partly on circumstantial evidence and partly on the law of probability. Too often a quarter or a half truth is seized upon and by the generous admixture of an artificial mortar made up largely of wisps of imagination is erected into a figure supposedly representing the truth. We have an example of this in the present attitude of radiologists toward the mechanism of the biologic effects produc...