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NDT Advance Access originally published online on September 22, 2007
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2007 22(12):3671; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfm489
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© The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org


Serendipity

Email: stanley.shaldon{at}libello.com

Sir,

Allow me to amplify the comment on the use of the word ‘serendipity’ by Dr Perrone [1]. Whilst it is generally accepted that the word was introduced into the English language by Walpole, it is possible that it had already been used by Dr Johnson, several years earlier. An old Persian tale relates to three princes who, when riding along country lanes in Ceylon, were used to making observations upon nature. One of them noticed that the grass had been eaten only on the left side of the path and concluded that a mule blind in his right eye had preceded them. Serendip was the old name for the island of Ceylon, today known as Sri Lanka. Whilst it is recognized that serendipity is one of the most difficult English words to translate, Dr Perrone's definition of its meaning would be clearer if the word ‘intelligent’ was substituted for the original word ‘sagacious’, which is no longer in current use in English. This would lead to a more precise definition, being an intelligent deduction derived from an accidental observation. I am not sure that I can accept his example of its use to describe the phenomenon of contact activation with the original AN69 membrane. However, I do agree with his negative comments on the use of urea as a measure of dialysis adequacy.

Conflict of interest statement. None declared.

Stanley Shaldon

Nephrology
University Hospital of Nimes
25 Le Michelangelo
7 Avenue des Papalins
Monaco

References

  1. Perrone B. Serendipity: a necessity for the progress of dialysis therapy. Nephrol Dial Transplant (2007) 22(Suppl. 5):v37–v38. doi:10.1093/ndt/gfm297.[Free Full Text]

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This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/12/3671-a    most recent
gfm489v1
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