November 20, 1945
Dr. Willis R. Whitney
The Farm Niskayuna
R. F. D. No. 1
Schenectady, N.Y.
Dear Dr. Whitney:
I was glad to get your letter. If you are not planning to visit California again soon, perhaps I can look forward to coming to see you sometime in Schenectady.
It is hard to believe that nine years have passed since the death of Dr. Noyes. We continue to miss him greatly. Thomas Hunt Morgan has been under the weather for a few days, with the stomach trouble which bothers him, but he seems to be recovering rapidly and to be feeling very lively again. It is wonderful to be able to talk to him from time to time.
I have just been working on some manuscripts describing an instrument which we developed during the war, and which is now no longer confidential. I am sending you a report about it (under separate cover) because I think that you might be interested to see how simple it is to manufacture an oxygen meter. The instrument depends for its operation on the extraordinary magnetic properties of molecular oxygen.
You may be interested in an idea which I have been thinking about recently. It is that many diseases (arthritis, nephritis, rheumatic fever) cause trouble by a precipitation or agglutination of red cells in the blood, and that this might be prevented by chemicals. The use of sodium salicylate in the treatment of acute rheumatic fever suggests that other things should be tried. I am hoping to do something about this.
Cordially yours,
Linus Pauling
LP:gw