19 April 1957

Dear Mamma,

Thank you for your letter and thank you for the Scientific American, which I enjoy very much, except for the guided missiles. It sounds that you are much too busy, and should try not to have so much work.

We are getting along well. Thomas is immense and fat and beautiful. He is very backward, no teeth, cannot crawl, still drinks at the breast, though only at breakfast I guess, and only just learned to say "da da da da da da." He is lovely. Julia is fine, works hard, gets a lot done. I have been working on a number of crystals, chiefly at the R.I. We are quite happy in our new flat. It is a long way from town. I have ordered some book shelves so it will be somewhat neat soon. At present there are vast piles of books and magazines. We expect you to stay with us this summer when you come.

The Dunitzs liked their ** very much. Their second baby was born Tuesday; Julia Gabrielle.

love,

XXXOOO Peter

Thank you for the Audio. I sent some labels, you can glue on to the original wrappers.

19 April 1957

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for your letter and for the money. I do not think that we ever really settled an arrangement for the money. You said you would buy the Porsche and I could live on the proceeds of it and the Merc. I said I did not really want to live on the Porsche, because I had borrowed that money from L. Junior, and while he might give me a car, he probably would not give me the money, and I expect this still to be true. I think Crellin will be able to sell the Merc this summer. Anyway, I am living at the rate of about $250 a month, I think.

I have stopped work on ReCl₄ (too big). I expect I have crystals of NH₄ReCl₄ and (Ch₃)₄NReCl₄ to look at, have begun an analysis of NI⁺⁺(NO₃)₂ • 2Et₃P, monoclinic, 8 x 8 x 16, green paramagnetic, though I have just been sidetracked for a fortnight on NH ₄CuS₄ which I made. It is orthorhorbic, 5.3 x 13x? Where? Has some disorders that I do not yet understand. They are lovely needles about .001 mm thick. This is the Easter holiday, and I hope to get the major data from Ni(NO ₂)₂Et₃P this week while the equipment is available. I am using the Weissenberg camera on the rotating anode tube.

We are getting along well, being arm and fairly healthy. Thomas is lonely and fine and big.

When you first arrive, perhaps you should wander along and see JBS [Haldane]. He leaves about July 15^th I think.

Much love from,

Peter