From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!houxm!houxa!houxi!houxz!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!CSvax:mab
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: Re: cause and effect?
Article-I.D.: purdue.494
Posted: Wed Jan 26 11:23:06 1983
Received: Sat Jan 29 09:19:39 1983
References: seismo.215


   Daryl Huff (I'm not too sure about the first name, but the last one's
right), in his book How To Lie With Statistics, cites as an example of
mistaking cause for effect a belief of one primitive tribe.  Seems these
people normally had a lot of lice.  When they got ill, the lice went away.
Their conclusion?  Having lice is good for your health.  (What actually
happened was the increase in body heat made the lice too uncomfortable to
stick around ...)

   Incidentally, I do recommend Huff's book; he has a very good chapter on
relating a cause and an effect (whether or not there is some relation!)

Matt Bishop
mab@purdue, ...!decvax!pur-ee:csvax:mab