Hi all, I just finished reading an article (Spellberg & Taylor-Blake, 2013) about the development of an "urban legend" in the biomedical field: the attribution of an "infamous quote" to William H. Stewart, the U.S. Surgeon General from 1965 to 1969. Stewart now is widely remembered for stating the following (in either 1967, 1968, or 1969, depending on the source): “It is time to close the book on infectious diseases, and declare the war against pestilence won” because of the advent of antibiotics. The quotation even appeared in his obituary in the Lancet in 2008. However, Stewart apparently never made a statement that was even similar to one attributed to him. The article does a good job of describing the development of the "urban legend," which apparently had its roots in a 1989 conference.
I think the article also is a good one for us to keep in mind when we teach our classes. We all rely to varying extents on secondary (and tertiary, and quaternary, ...) sources when preparing for our courses. The article does an excellent job of showing how this can lead even specialists in a scientific field to develop erroneous beliefs. In fact, just before his death in 2008, Stewart himself did not remember if he had ever made the statement. Best, Jeff RFERENCE Spellberg, B., & Taylor-Blake, B. (2013). On the exoneration of Dr. William H. Stewart: Debunking an urban legend. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2(3). doi:10.1186/2049-9957-2-3 Retrieved July 26, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3707092/pdf/2049-9957-2-3.pdf  Abstract Background: It is one of the most infamous quotes in the history of biomedicine: “It is time to close the book on infectious diseases, and declare the war against pestilence won.” Long attributed to the United States Surgeon General, Dr. William H. Stewart (1965-1969), the statement is frequently used as a foil by scientific and lay authors to underscore the ever-increasing problems of antibiotic-resistant and emerging infections. However, the primary source for the quote has never been identified. Methods: We undertook a comprehensive search of multiple databases encompassing medical literature, news articles, and congressional records to attempt to identify sources for the quote. Results: No source of the quote was identified. However, a trail of source documents was identified that clearly serves as the basis for subsequent, incorrect attribution of the quote to Dr. Stewart. In multiple source documents, Dr. Stewart made statements to the opposite effect, clearly recognizing that infectious diseases had not been conquered. The urban legend was created by a combination of lack of primary witnesses to the originating speech, misunderstanding of points made by Dr. Stewart in the speech, and increasing societal concern about emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Conclusions: Attribution to Dr. Stewart of a belief that it was time to close the book on infectious diseases is an urban legend; he never made any such statement. Numerous other verifiable sources, however, confirm that other people in academia adopted this belief. Dr. Stewart should no longer be cited in this regard, and should be replaced with verifiable sources. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scottsdale Community College 9000 E. Chaparral Road Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 Office: SB-123 Phone: (480) 423-6213 Fax: (480) 423-6298 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=26638 or send a blank email to leave-26638-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
