Medicine: Brains and Allergy

Many Phi Beta Kappas suffer from hay fever. This fact did not escape the notice of Dr. Buenaventura Jimenez Serra of the University of Michigan health service. He began to match records of students' allergies with the results of their entrance examinations. Last week Dr. Jimenez, just in time for the hay fever season, broadcast a consoling item. Allergy, said he, is a symptom of intelligence. On college achievement tests, he found, students suffering from hay fever, asthma and eczema rate five to ten percent higher than their non-allergic fellows.

For his ingenious theory Dr. Jimenez has an ingenious explanation: people who...

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