21 Octobre 1965
Dear Francis,
Be reasonable.  If I am unfair to the monomer, you are unfair to the oligomer.  You are also, which is worse, unfair to Mother Nature because, in a real system, the maximal and minimal values of L presumably are defined to begin with, that is before you choose to use a monomer or an oligomer.
This being said, I feel that this argument is a really interesting and useful one, and I look forward to going into it with you in more detail in December.
For the time being, as you may well imagine, it is virtually impossible to think about or concentrate on anything serious.  The Nobel wave has hit us with a terrifying impact. May be you could tell me how long it takes to recover?
Yours ever
Jacques MONOD.
P.-S. - I thought you would be amused to see the wonderful letter of congratulation which I received from Seymour.