Edwards G
National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 1994 Jun;35(3):249-59. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(94)90082-5.
This paper explores the genesis of D.L. Davie's 1962 paper on 'Normal drinking in recovered alcohol addicts' in terms of the background and training of its author and the institutional context within which he worked. Davies was born in 1911 and died in 1982. Alter a brilliant undergraduate medical career and war service in command of a military hospital, Davies joined the staff of the Maudsley Hospital in 1946 and was exposed to the intellectual influence of Aubrey Lewis. The research tradition to which he was introduced emphasised case description. The 1962 paper radically challenged perceived wisdom by purporting to describe 7 'alcohol addicts' who had achieved sustained, controlled drinking over a 7-11 year period. A subsequent follow-up of these cases suggested that Davies had been substantially mislead, and the paradox exists that a widely influential paper which did much to stimulate new thinking was based on faulty data. Some possible explanations for the occurrence of such a scientific accident are considered and the relevance of this story for the present day.
本文从作者的背景和培训经历以及他工作的机构背景方面，探讨了D.L. 戴维斯1962年发表的关于“康复酒精成瘾者的正常饮酒”的论文的起源。戴维斯生于1911年，卒于1982年。在辉煌的本科医学学习生涯及指挥军事医院的战时服役之后，戴维斯于1946年加入莫兹利医院工作，并受到奥布里·刘易斯的学术影响。他所接触到的研究传统强调病例描述。1962年的这篇论文声称描述了7名在7至11年期间实现持续、可控饮酒的“酒精成瘾者”，从而彻底挑战了人们的固有认知。对这些病例随后的跟踪调查表明戴维斯受到了极大误导，存在这样一个矛盾：一篇对激发新思维起到很大作用且具有广泛影响力的论文却是基于错误数据。本文考虑了这种科学事故发生的一些可能解释以及这个故事在当今的意义。
