At least a dozen people have already responded to my query about Fisher
and smoking! Thanks very much.
The responses are below; please send further information only if it does
not repeat these messages.
Best wishes,
Jim Hodges
***********************
From: Iain D Currie <[log in to unmask]>
Fisher published a booklet(??) entitled
Smoking: The Cancer Controversy: Some attempts to assess the evidence.
This was published by Oliver and Boyd
but I don't have any more info than this. You could try looking in
R.A. Fisher: The Life of a Scientist by Joan Box: published by Wiley.
Iain Currie
*******
From: D.E. Walters <[log in to unmask]>
There are two notes by Fisher in the British Medical Journal of 1957,
which also appear in his 'Collected Papers'.
Dr.Eurof Walters
*******
From: David B. Klein <[log in to unmask]>
The late Hans Eysenck, psychologist, wrote a critical book on this very
theme; you might want to start there.
David Klein
*******
From: P. Callow <[log in to unmask]>
I suspect the following reference is pertinent, though I don't have a copy
to hand and have never read it, so I can't comment informedly on either
the background or the contents. Perhaps some else can enlighten us.
Fisher RA. Dangers of cigarette smoking. Brit Med J 1957;2:297-298.
The title at least is suggestive, and I strongly suspect that Fisher would
have expressed some reservations about interpreting simple correlations.
My Ph.D. supervisor (long ago) used to point out that although both water
melons and umbrellas are common in such places as S.E. Asia, it would be
unsafe to suppose that umbrellas are used for protection when it is
raining melons!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Callow, M.A., Ph.D. Phone 01223-335468 (direct)
University of Cambridge Computing Service 01223-334600 (switchboard)
New Museums Site, Pembroke St, Fax 01223-334679
Cambridge CB2 3QG E-mail [log in to unmask]
*******
From: Nick Cox <[log in to unmask]>
References can be found in J.F. Box's biography
R.A. Fisher: the life of a scientist. Wiley, NY, 1978.
and the material is in Fisher's Collected Papers, Vol. V.
*******
From: Teddy Seidenfeld <[log in to unmask]>
Dear Jim,
Oliver and Boyd (England) published a pamphlet (6 small items) by Fisher
under the title "Smoking: the cancer controversy," 1959.
Best,
Teddy
******
From: Sue Duval <[log in to unmask]>
Jim
[Referring to Fisher's collected works]
At a quick glance, there's a paper entitled 'Cigarettes, cancer
and statistics' as well as a couple of other pertinent pieces
from 1957-1958.
Sue Duval
*******
From: Clive Moncrieff <[log in to unmask]>
Try
Smoking, the cancer controversy. Some attempts to assess the evidence
Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1959
contains 6 papers of RAF's from 1957-1958
incl.
Cigarettes, cancer and Statistics, Centennial Review, 2 151-166, 1958
Dangers of cigarette smoking. Brit Med J 1957;2:297-298. (>"P. Callow" )
See also RAF collected Works where all are printed plus preface to above book
C. Moncrieff
<C.B. Moncrieff, Head of Biometry, The Nat. Hist. Mus., London>
*******
From: Peter M Lee <[log in to unmask]>
R A Fisher, Smoking: The Cancer Controversy, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd
1959 (47 page pamphlet).
Alternatively, see papers 269, 270, 274, 272, 275, 276 and 276A in Volume
V of his Collected Papers.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|