Word and Object in Disease Descriptions

Experiments were conducted on a book, Current Medical Information and Terminolog~, (AMA, Chicago, 1971, edited by Burgess Gordon, M.D.), which is a compendium of 3262 diseases, each of which is defined by a collection of attributes. The original purpose of the book was to introduce a standard nomenclature of disease names, and the attributes are organized in conventional medical form: a definition consists of a brief description of the relevant symptoms, signs, laboratory findings, and the like. Each disease is, in addition, assigned to one (or at most two) of eleven disease categories which enumerate physiological systems (skin, respiratory, cardiovascular, etc.). While the editorial style of the book is highly telegraphic, with many attributes being expressed as single words, it is nevertheless easily readable (see Figure i).