Letter from Linus Pauling to Leland H. Pence. June 1, 1942. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 1 p.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Letter from Kenneth B. Demaree, McGraw-Hill, to LP . RE: Demaree understands that LP does not plan to do any revising immediately, but hopes that when the revised manuscript is available, that LP will consider McGraw-Hill for publishing. [Filed under LP Manuscripts of Books, 1947b5.15]
• Letter from LP to Dr. Leland H. Pence, Reed College. [Letter from Pence to LP May 27, 1942] [Filed under LP Science: Materials re: Antibody and Antigen Research; the Nature of Serological Reactions, 1940-1947, 1950-1952, 1973, 1986: Box #7.001 Folder #1.1]

  June 1, 1942

  Dr. Leland H. Pence

  Department of Chemistry

  Reed College

  Portland, Oregon

  Dear Dr. Pence:

  I am very pleased that you are planning to go ahead at once with the preparation of the compounds that we need for our work in immunology. The method that I suggest for your obtaining the chemicals that you need is given in the postscript to this letter.

  For a general survey of the field of immunochemistry I recommend Marrack's monograph, the title of which is given in a footnote at the beginning of my 1940 paper. I think it might well be available in the library of the University of Oregon Medical School, but you might want to order one for yourself from the British Library of Information, 270 Madison Avenue, New York City. It is not expensive—three shillings in England, and about a dollar, I think, here. Landsteiner's book is also worth having, but it is somewhat harder to understand than Marrack's. The usage of the word hapten is not uniform. Landsteiner introduced the word to refer to a molecule such as a carbohydrate which seemed to be important to the antigenicity of some coupled protein, but which by itself would not produce antibodies when injected into an animal. I use the word to refer either to the molecule or to the group when it is attached to a larger molecule. Sometimes I refer to the group as a haptenic group.

  I think that your experiment of taking an antibody and turning it into another antibody in the test tube would be worth carrying out. The job of obtaining purified antibody is somewhat troublesome, so that we shall probably not try this experiment for some time.

  Sincerely yours.

  Linus Pauling

  LP:jr

  P.S. I think that the easiest way would be for you to order the chemicals that you need through Reed College, which would then bill us for payment. If you would let me know the approximate amount, I shall put in a requisition and an order would be sent to the Reed College Comptroller.

• Letter from LP to Dr. Thomas C. Grubb, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, RE: Gives permission to use the requested diagrams for Grubb's book on immunology. Adds that reprints will be sent separately. (Note under text: "816, 872, 892.") [Letter from Grubb to LP May 25, 1942] [Filed under LP Correspondence: Box #140.7, file:(G: Correspondence, 1942)]
• Letter from LP to E.M. Wise, Platinum Metals Division, The International Nickel Company, Inc. RE: Thanks him for sending a copy of their book The Platinum Metals and Their Alloys to him. [Letter from Wise to LP May 22, 1942] [Filed under LP Correspondence: 443.10]
• Letter from LP to General Electric Company RE: Requests information on obtaining two vacuum tubes for use in building a piezoelectric oscillator. Notes that Dr. Porter at UC Berkeley suggested GE may be able to provide slightly defective tubes. (Note in top margin: "Coon") [Letters from Porter to LP May 21, 1942, from Coon to LP June 6, 1942] [Filed under LP Correspondence: Box #140.7, file:(G: Correspondence, 1942)]
• Letter from LP to Hennetin Country Draft Board RE: Writes about Dr. W. B. Renfrow and requests he be given temporary deferment due to the importance of the scientific work he is doing in regards to the war. [Filed under LP Biographical: CIT: Materials re: Teaching and Advising of Graduate Students by Linus Pauling: Box #1.018, Folder 18.5]
• Letter from LP to Prof. C. W. Porter, Department of Chemistry, UC Berkeley, RE: Thanks him for the information on the tubes. Adds that they will be contacting General Electric to obtain some. [Letter from Porter to LP May 21, 1942, undated memo from Corey to LP (6-42)] [Filed under LP Correspondence: Box #140.7, file:(G: Correspondence, 1942)]
• Letter from LP to Prof. Joel Hildebrand, Department of Chemistry, UC Berkeley, RE: Thanks him belatedly for sending the copy of Long's dissertation. Mentions that Dr. Schomaker has been working on the data in the dissertation and the literature. [Attached is a registered mail slip] [Letters from Hildebrand to LP April 8, 1942, June 2, 1942] [Filed under LP Correspondence: Box #159.3, file:(Hildebrand, Joel)]
• List of Officers and Members of the Council of the Academy. [Filed under LP Science: National Academy of Sciences, 1939-1944: Box #14.018 Folder #18.2]