February 16, 1968

Dr. Gustav Albrecht

271 East Loma Alta Drive

Altadena, California 91001

Dear Gus:

I have started doing some work on covalent radii, and need some help from you.

I need Xerox copies of some papers. One is Ollred and Rochow, Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, 5, 26H, 269 (1958). Another is Little and Jones, Journal of Chemical Education, 37, 231 (1960).

Also, I want to check up on page 231 of The Nature of the- Chemical Bond. I have a note in my volume to the effect that D. Cubicciotti has given values of constants in Table 7-7 to the first four values for a that I give. I have given 2.32 for each of these four. I may have made a mistake in copying the values given by Badger, reference at the foot of the page. I do not know whether Cubicciotti wrote me a letter or whether he published a paper. Would you look in the literature (Chemical Abstracts) for the period around 1960, to see whether Cubicciotti has written something about force constants in diatomic molecules, and send me a Xerox if he has. Also check up on the values as given by Badger, to see whether I made a mistake.

There is another job of searching the literature that I should like you to do. I am comparing the observed bond lengths (re) for pairs of molecules such as HC1 and (HC1)+. I have got values from the table in the second edition of Herzberg's book on Molecular Spectroscopy, Diatomic Molecules. I should like you to go through Chemical Abstracts (which probably covers the field) for the last ten years, to see if you can find values of the bond lengths for singly ionized hydrides (also the neutral molecules, several of which are given by Herzberg) of fluorine (HF)+), iodine, sulfur, arsenic, antimony, silicon, germanium, tin, and any other diatomic hydride molecules in the singly ionized state. I am especially interested to have singly ionized hydrogen fluoride, also hydrogen iodide.

I am looking forward to giving my lectures at UCLA, beginning 26 February.

Sincerely,

Linus Pauling

16 February 1968

Dear Mamma,

Thank you for your letter on my birthday. I had a quiet birthday which seems to be usual these days. A sign of age. I had a huge card from Linda that is great fun. Thank you for letting Diana stay in your house in Santa Barbara. I had thought that it would be too far out and that she would be there only for two nights but evidently Linda thought it would be all right. She has not got a job yet but is working on the matter. She has to get certificates and things to practice or teach psychology which is the only thing she knows. She is certainly pleased to be with Linda and I think Linda and Barclay are pleased to have her. She is a funny girl and life is not easy for her but I am very fond of her. She certainly was a great help to me.

I am pleased I did not hurt you. It did not occur to me that I might have but Crellin thought I may have. I do not think I said anything or thought anything that would hurt you, though I tend to be tactless and just talk about things and people as I see them. I do not think critically of people but accept them as they are. That does not mean I do not try to appreciate them as they are.

I am sorry you have been unwell and hope you are better. You must take care of yourself. We need you. Perhaps you have been taking too many medicines. Between all those doctors and the Paddy with his ideas you may be getting too much of a good thing.

My flat is quite nice. It is painted all white and has three rooms, a large kitchen and a bath. I can really only use one room because I only have one heater and it is very cold here. One room is really all I need. I have Diana's washing machine and have bought a tumbler drier so I can and have done my laundry. Shopping is still a nuisance. I live on soup and eggs and cottage cheese and steak. I should do something about fruit and vegetables. I tend to eat only one meal a day. It is just a bit lonely. I am trying to put all my efforts into science and not spending my time feeling sorry for myself. It is a good chance for me to work hard. My machine is not going yet. We are waiting for a cable from my one British supplier. They have been at it for a year now. It is now due on Monday and I hope we shall soon be using the instrument to good effect.

I was very pleased to come home for Christmas. I shall have to come more often. […]

Thank you again for the Chase painting. I have it here and like it very much.

Much love

Peter