4 March 1954

Dr. David P. Shoemaker

Department of Chemistry

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

Dear Dave:

Thanks for the note on your letter of 1 March to Mr. Burtz. I knew that it was unlikely that you could come to Pasadena, but I wanted you to know that the meeting was being held.

I am glad to hear that you have no detectable after-effects from your illness.

As to my trip around the world, it turned out unfortunately. My wife and I decided to start out, even though I had not received my validated passport after having sent it in to Washington on my return from Israel in November. When we got to New York the passport was not there, and our efforts for a couple of weeks in Washington to chisel it out of the State Department were unsuccessful; they did not refuse, but postponed taking action until it was too late to get to the meeting in India, which was the first week of January. Then we gave up and came home. This is, of course, a way that bureaucrats have of causing trouble by just delaying action.

I have gone over the sigma-phase manuscript again. I am worried [ab]out it, in that I am afraid that it will be turned down because of its length. Accordingly I suggested quite a number of deletions and changes, the main desirability of them being that they shorten the paper. A few things that might well be said are left unsaid, but I think that it is necessary that the paper be shortened. Gunnar will write to you about it.

Cordially yours,

Linus Pauling:W