Rob
"It has long been known" == I haven't bothered to look up the reference.
"It is believed" == I think.
"It is generally believed" == A couple of other guys think so too.
"It is not unreasonable to assume" == If you belive this, you'll believe
anything.
"Of great theoretical importance" == I find it kind of interesting.
"Typical results are shown" == The best results are shown.
"Three samples were chosen for further study" == The others didn't make
sense so we ignored them.