ROUTINE REPORT WRITING BY COMPUTER.

The article focuses on routine report writing by computer at Monsanto Chemical Co. Application-research, as the term is used by Monsanto Chemical Co. is that type of work in which an attempt is made to find a chemical to do a specific job. Inasmuch as there are hundreds of thousands of known chemical compounds, the magnitude of the task is tremendous. Information needed by the computer to produce reports for application research scientists comes from two sources. A central data processing group, called SRC, receives all samples for testing, gives each sample an identifying 5-digit serial number, which the computer uses for primary identification, distributes the samples, and files all remaining samples and results. This group supplies the computer with the compound number, name, and structure. The other source comes from the testing laboratory itself.