Science and Truth 'FINAGLE' is not a word that most people associate with science. One reason is that the image of the scientist is of one who always collects data in an impartial(51)for truth. In any debate - over intelligence, schooling, energy-the(51)'science says' usually disarms opposition. But scientists have long acknowledged the existence of a 'finagle factor'—a tendency by many scientists to give a helpful change to the data to(53)desired results. The latest of the finagle factor in action comes from Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard biologist,(54)has examined the important 19th century work of Dr. Samuel George Morton. Morton was famous in his time(55)analysing the brain size of the skulls as a measure of intelligence. He concluded that whites had the(56)brains, that the brains of Indians and Blacks were smaller, and therefore, that whites constitute a superior race. Gould went back to Morton's original data and concluded that the(57)were an example of the finagle at work. He found that Morton's 'discovery' was made by leaving out embarrassing data, using incorrect procedures, making simple arithmetical(58)(always in his favour) and changing his criteria-again, always in favour of his argument. Morton has been thoroughly discredited by now and scientists do not believe that brain size reflects(59). But Gould went on to say Morton's story is only an example of a common problem in(60)work. Some of the leading figures in science are believed to have(61)the finagle factor. Gould says that Isaac Newton fudged out to support at least three central statements that he could not prove. And so(62)Claudius Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer, whose master work, Almagest, summed up the case for a solar system that had the earth as its centre. Recent studies indicate that Ptolemy(63)faked some key data or resorted heavily to the finagle factor. All this is(64)because the finagle factor is still at work. For example, in the artificial sweetener controversy, for example, it is said that all the studies sponsored by the sugar industry find that the artificial sweetener is unsafe, while all the studies sponsored by the diet food industry find nothing(65)with it.