This limerick was written by Columbia University professor of biostatistics, Joseph L. Fleiss (1938 -2003). It was published along with three other limericks by Dr. Fleiss in a letter to the editor of The American Statistician (volume 2; 1967, page 49). It was written while he worked as a biostatistician at the Department of Mental Hygiene of the State of New York just prior to receiving his Ph.D. and joining the faculty at Columbia.