May 28, 1943
Dr. Frank Blair Hanson
The Rockefeller Foundation
49 West 49th Street
New York, New York
Dear Dr. Hanson:
I thank you for your letter of May 24, which answers the questions which had teen
troubling me.
Professor Sturtevant has told me that his answer to your earlier letter was mailed
today.
I think that the opinion which I expressed in my letter of May 17 regarding the importance
of artificial antibodies in comparison with the other investigations in the field
of immunochemistry which we are making did not tell the whole story. From the point
of view of pure science, the other investigations are, I think, of greater interest
and importance than the manufacture of artificial antibodies, because they lend themselves
to more definite and straightforward theoretical interpretation. On the other hand,
the manufacture of artificial antibodies offers some promise of being of practical
value in, the prevention and control of disease, and when I think of this I become
enthusiastic about artificial antibodies, and am tempted to rank this part of our
work as the most important. As mentioned before, our experiments with artificial antibodies
against Type I pneumonia indicate a small but definite protective power; I am disappointed
that striking protection has not been achieved.
I thank you for recommending that the sum of $8,000.00 be provided for continuing
our work on the production of artificial antibodies during the coming year. I am confident
that during the coming months we shall obtain enough information to give a reasonably
definite answer to the question of whether or not artificial antibodies will be of
practical aid in the protection against and treatment of disease.
Sincerely yours,
Linus Pauling
