3 November 1969

Dear Mom,

Ok, I'll give you my round bottomed copper bowl. It is about 14" in diameter, and beautiful. I would indeed enjoy having a colander I could just leave out on the sink, so I don't have to go rooting around in a drawer every time I want to do a salad.

I'm considering seriously coming at Thanksgiving, but haven't made the final decision yet. If I do I could bring the bowl then. Also it might make a nice birthday present for you.

I enclose a clipping of Univ. of Hawaii president Harlan Cleveland's speech on Vietnam, for Pop to read. He is apparently much more liberal and sensible than heretofore believed unless he's just expecting to gain confidence of the univ-population by this gun [?] bit. At any rate, his stock has gone up now.

I enjoyed very much my all too brief visit at the ranch, even if I did discover poison oak on my ankles when I got home!

No other news yet. I look forward to seeing you whenever.

Love,

Linus

94305

November 5, 1969

Dr. Anthony C. Allison

Clinical Research Center Laboratories

National Institute for Medical Research

Milhill, N.W. 7, London, England

Dear Dr. Allison:

I was pleased to hear from you. Note that I am at Stanford University now.

The idea that sickle cell anemia was a disease of the hemoglobin molecules had not occurred to me when I heard that the cells were birefringent. Instead, it was the statement by Dr. Castle, when we were having dinner with a few other people, that the cells are sickled in the venous blood but not in the arterial blood that caused me to decide immediately that it was a molecular disease, and that the hemoglobin molecules were self-complementary, so that they would combine to form long rods, which would then crystallize and form the red cells. I did not learn about the birefringence of sickled cells until later.

I am sending separately some of my reprints, including a list of my papers. I think that I described the discovery of sickle cell anemia hemoglobin in paper 271 and paper 257, page 902 of the List of Scientific Publications.

I am sure that I have published an account of the discovery of the alpha helix, but I do not remember where. I spent the summer of 1937 in an effort to develop a way of folding the polypeptide chain that would account for the X-ray pattern of hair, but without success. In the spring of 1948, when I was George Eastman Professor at Oxford, I was in bed with a cold for a few days. I began thinking about the problem, and decided to look for helical hydrogen-bonded structures, with planar amide groups, and all residues structurally equivalent. Within a few hours I had discovered a couple of these structures. Neither one seemed to agree with the X-ray pattern, however, and I did not publish anything about them for more than a year.

You may be interested in my work on anesthesia. The development of the hydrate microcrystal theory is described in my paper number 338, page 903. I do not have extra copies at hand.

It was a pleasure to hear from you again.

Sincerely,

LP/mdm

Linus Pauling

November 6, 1969

University College London

Gower Street

London W.C 1, England

Dear Peter,

All of the dictionary has arrived now. Thanks very much.

In answer to your question about strategy of publication, I may say first that I think that there is much to be said for publishing rather short papers, each with one principle point. I would accordingly be in favor of your publishing two shorter papers on nicotinic agonists, rather than one of longer length. I think that a paper on known crystal structures and a later one on your predicted structures would be worthwhile. I believe that, although you could not put them in the same issue of P.N.A.S., they could come in issues one month apart. Also, publishing two papers would permit you to have co-authors on one and no co-authors on the other, as you suggest.

It used to be customary for an author to have difficulty in publishing a purely theoretical paper. I think that that day is past, and, of course, there would be no difficulty with P.N.A.S.

It is fine that your work is going along so well.

I have sent a short paper to P.N.A.S., on the interpretation of some low excited states of nuclei, as rotational states, rather than, as is usually assumed, vibrational states. Art Robinson and John Blethen are doing some work on nuclear theory too. Art has been having a great amount of trouble during the last two months, in that our new Varian gas chromatographs have not been working properly. They seem to have replaced a satisfactory 19-cent silicone washer with a cheaper one, which evaporates at the temperature of the apparatus. Art has been in a frenzy about it, because of the loss of time.

We saw Crellin a few days ago. He gave a seminar in Berkeley. Mama and I had intended to go to it, but then we were delayed in coming back from the ranch (Highway 1 is closed while a big slide is being fixed, and we have to go around by the southern route).

We are going to Atlantic City and a couple of other places on the East coast during the next few days. Probably we shall stop for a day to see Virginia Durr.

Much love from

Daddy

LP/mdm

Dr. Linus C. Pauling, Jr.

3909 Round Top Drive

Honolulu

Hawaii 96822

U. S. A.

Dear Linus,

Many thanks for your letter. Bud is arriving on JL 062 at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 3rd December, from Tokyo. She will stay for one day if plans remain as they exist now.

On the 4th she is going to Los Angeles to stay with a friend and with Linda, I hope.

I still haven't got the money to Mrs. Beasley because it's a damn nuisance to get the cash and to take it to her, but I guess I can cope with it.

I am off next week for a couple of weeks on the continent in which I am going to give several lectures in various cities in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and France. I shall spend several days in Geneva.

Peter and Linie are here and as far as I can tell are getting along all right. I give Linus a rough time every time I see him because I think he ought to do something serious.

Please excuse the formal means of communication; things are getting hectic.

With much love,

Peter

14th November, 1969

Mrs. Linda Kamb

3500 Fairpoint Street

Pasadena

Calif. 91107

U. S. A.

Dear Linda,

I assume that you have abandoned me for ever since I don't know how to put pen to paper. [...] Anyway, Happy Birthday, and a merry Thanksgiving.

My girl friend, Miss Bud McLennan, is arriving in Los Angeles on 4th December on Pan Am 828 at 22.45. I think that she will be met by and go to Mrs. Carol [...] for the night and she may stay there two nights. She would very much like to see you and stay with you, and I would very much like you to see her so that I can have your opinion. Some decisions are difficult without the advice of those one knows, loves and trusts. She may have to stay two nights including Friday night at Carol's but she may prefer and want to come to you on Friday. Many years ago, Carol was a dear friend of hers but the relationship at the moment is somewhat uncertain. I do not know how she will get to Pasadena from Malibu, you may have to go get her or perhaps Carol would bring her over. Carol used to live on the Hastings ranch. I would much appreciate your seeing her, putting her up, and advising me.

I met Bud at a party at some one-time neighbors of yours, the Zinbergs. They lived next to you when you were in Cambridge, Mass.

I am off next week for a lecture tour of the continent in which I shall visit Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and France. I shall see Jack Dunitz, Alfred Tissieres and Anita. It should be quite fun.

[...]

Much love,

Peter

November 17, 1969

C. Lockard Conley, M.D.

Hfeiratology Division

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

601 No, Broadway

Baltimore, Maryland

Dear Dr. Conley:

I was pleased to receive your letter, and to learn about your interest in the discovery of the abnormal human hemoglobins.

I know very well why it was that I decided to make an investigation to see whether or not sickle cell anemia involved the manufacture of an abnormal hemoglobin. The account given in my Harvey lecture is correct and nearly complete.

Last June I learned that Bill Castle had forgotten part of the story. He remembered that he and I had talked about the disease in 1945, when he told me about the observed birefrengence of sickled cells. He had forgotten the earlier episode, however - about two months earlier. This was the time in New York when he had talked about the disease at a small private dinner (just conversation among the seven or eight members of the Committee on Medical Research). M this earlier dinner, in the early spring of 1945, he mentioned that the cells were sickled in venous blood, and not in arterial blood. This fact immediately suggested to me that the hemoglobin molecule was, with little doubt, closely involved, and I formulated then the idea that it was an abnormal molecule with two complementary regions on its surface. I made a statement about this at the time, which, I think. Castle had forgotten later on, or confused with our second discussion.

There are several statements in the letter of 24 October, 1969, by George Burch to you that are new to me. Some of his statements are not quite right. It was 194 I, rather than 1940, when I developed nephritis, and came to Dr. Alfred Conn's laboratory for a diagnosis and met Dr. Burch. I remember that he made a check on me with the plethysmography and that we talked about some matters; but the only things that we talked about which I now remember were the disease, glomerulonephritis. I knew that my maternal grandfather had died of this disease, and I was, of course, concerned about having my illness diagnosed in this way. It is understandable that I do not remember much about that day except the tests that were made of me and the advice that was given to my wife and me, which was that we return to California and get in touch with Thomas Addis at Stanford Medical School.

I am sure that the idea that there was an abnormal hemoglobin did not occur at that time, but only four years later.

In 1945, after 1 had had this idea, Doisy wrote to me about a young physician who had studied with him at St. Louis, Harvey Itano. I accepted Itano as a graduate student working for a Ph.D. in chemistry, and wrote to him suggesting that he work on the hemoglobin problem. We built an electro-phoretic apparatus in our laboratory, and after a lot of effort succeeded in getting good evidence of the existence of the abnormal hemoglobin.

Dr. Burch says in his letter that he had sent all of the blood that we used to us. He also mentions Dr. Winsor as supplying blood from the Los Angeles County Hospital. He also obtained samples of blood from Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, through the courtesy of Dr. Evans. In our paper communicating the discovery of the abnormal hemoglobin we express our thanks to Dr. Burch, as well as to Dr. Winsor and Dr. Evans, for providing samples of blood.

As I have stated above, I am sure that my ideas about sickle cell anemia originated in early 1945, at the New York dinner, and that I talked with Bill Castle again in a Pullman car on the way to the meeting of the same committee, later that spring. Although T do not remember it, it is not unlikely that Dr. Burch talked about the disease when I first saw him in 1941.

The idea that Dr. Burch and Dr. Shedlowsky found definite differences of hemoglobin from sickle cell patients and normal persons in the early 1940's is new to me. Dr. Burch says that the hemoglobin from three patients was studied. I know from our own experience that it is, or was at that time, very difficult to get very definite evidence that the hemoglobin is an abnormal hemoglobin. Although Dr. Burch says in his letter that they have found definite differences from the normal in the electrophoretic patterns, I suppose that the Indications of a difference were not well enough defined to justify publication or even to justify further work. I assume that there is no publication about this, or I would know about it, and Dr. Burch would mention it.

I do not think that there is any justification for the sentence “Pauling then assigned Itano, his assistant, the responsibility of running through some samples and, of course, found the same electrophoretic patterns.”

I doubt very much that Dr. Burch and Dr. Shedlowsky had obtained the same electrophoretic patterns that we obtained. If they had, they surely would have published an account of their discovery.

Also, as described above, my decision to do some work in this field was made only four years later, and was consequent to some facts about the disease mentioned to me by Dr. Castle, and not at all to any discussion with Dr. Burch.

Dr. Burch was helpful to Dr. Itano and me not only in providing samples of blood but also, in the early i950's, in arranging for a test to be made of an idea that we had about controlling the crises of the disease.

I do not think that I have ever seen the article by M. B. Strauss published in Medicine in 1964. Could you send me a Xerox copy of this article, if you have it in your files, or the page reference?

Sincerely,

Linus Pauling

LP/mdm