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uperficially, there appears to be little in common between Janet Baum (Fig. 1), Director of the Department of Radiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and the 14th Century King of the Scots, Robert the Bruce. Yet, although Janet freely admits that she had not heard of King Robert I (1274 -1329), who ruled over Scotland from the declaration of his monarchy in March of 1306, until his death, allegedly from leprosy, in June of 1329, she shares the same philosophy of not capitulating in the face of defeat, rejection, or failure, as exemplified by her battle with medical journals, just over 30 years ago, to publish the novel observation that oral contraceptives steroids (OCS) induce hepatic adenomas. 1 Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick and 5th Lord Annandale, was born of Norman and Celtic ancestry on July 11, 1274, at Turnberry Castle on the Ayrshire coast, in the west of the lowlands of Scotland. Although he was a grandson of a former claimant to the throne of Scotland, Bruce wavered initially in his Scottish patriotism and even paid homage to the notorious "Hammer of the Scots," Edward I of England. However, after the failure of William Wallace's rebellion and Wallace's own brutal execution at Edward's command (mostly depicted with Gibsonian violence and historical distortion in the 1995 movie Braveheart), Bruce, now King, fervently championed Scotland's bid for independence from England. 2,3 While hiding in a cave, demoralized after yet another bloody defeat, Bruce was heartened to press on, as Winston Churchill wrote, 4 ". . .by the persistent efforts of the most celebrated spider in history" that succeeded in spinning its web after numerous attempts had failed. While it may be apocryphal that Bruce concluded from the imagery the maxim "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again," ever since then this encouraging motto has served as a watchword against giving up without a fight. Indeed, Bruce and his followers then marched on to beat the English decisively at the Battle of Bannockburn on Mid-Summer's Day, June 24, 1314, against great odds. "Good King Robert" remains the quintessential Scottish hero for his skillful military strategy and prowess, defense of freedom, chivalry, diplomacy, and compassion. While Janet's struggle to get her assertion accepted by the medical establishment that oral contraceptives can cause liver tu-