ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, I made passing reference to the importance of understanding the similarities and differences which are characteristic of the interpretative practices employed in scientists’ letters and those employed in their spoken dialogue. In this chapter, I intend to explore these similarities and differences in a little more detail. Ideally, one might wish to proceed by comparing the stiochiometry letters examined above with recordings of conversations in which their authors discussed the same range of technical issues. But such an approach is impossible for various reasons; not the least of which is the fact that the letters exist precisely because the two authors were unable to talk face-to-face about the stoichiometry issue.
