To the Editor.
—As a member of the same profession as Drs. Gambino, Button and Galen, I am used to being corrected and to taking my "lumps" from colleagues, students, and other physicians. When the above-mentioned authors put on their rose-colored filters to visualize straw men, create misquotes, and otherwise ascribe to me total ignorance of technical laboratory procedures, lack of knowledge about the applications of automated chemistry analyses, and "bad experience" with laboratory directors, I am bound to defend my thesis—though I would not expect to reconcile our differing philosophies so easily.First, a word about publication dates. The article referred to by Gambino et al was not published when my editorial was submitted; now it will have to stand the test of time on its own merits—which I think are considerable.1 My editorial was in no way restricted to consideration of the SMA 12/60, and so it