Medicine: Brains and Allergy

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

For his ingenious theory Dr. Jimenez has an ingenious explanation:people who are allergic, says he, also have “hypersensitive braincells.”