April 27, 1972

Professor G.J.V. N

Director

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Post Office

Royal Melbourne Hospital

Victoria 3050, Australia

Dear Gus:

Your letter of April 19 moves ma deeply, and my first instincts
would be to say yes, immediately. Every consideration you mentioned
would be important to me too.

But a wiser voice says "wait!"' I have an agonizing problem
reshaping my commitments to my capabilities, and have been progress~-
ively occupied in this rationalization. In due time I will have made
room for such gratifications as you prepose as a regular part of my
agenda. As it is now, I fear that when the time actually approached,
it would seem a mixed blessing and that I would be particularly appre-
hensive about having had the time to prepare my lecture in a way that
would fulfill your expactations (and perhpps more troublesome, for you
are a generous friend, my own.)

‘

May I then accept in principle - and with Marguerite's equal
enthusiasm - but ask you to wait until I can approach you with a less
cluttered prospect (and with ample advance notice.) I would certainly
hope this would not be postponed more than another 2 or 3 years - to
be optimistic about my general sanity as well as about the enjoyment
of this particular trip. ®

a
P.S. My (step)-son David is now 7 1/2. We have already taken him |
with us to Israel and to France, and with great profit. When he is

10 or 11, we would certainly expect him to be able to join us South XX
Seas-ward with equal enjoyment, and this is another consideration in 7
waiting a while longer. Otherwise, arranging bis care is a problem

rather than ad added joy. And we could then think of planning the

visit with a real sense of freedom about time. When we come I would

certainly want us to have at least a couple of weeks to include a

proper sample of the Australian environment, which I enjoyed so much

in 1957.

Joshua Lederberg

Professor of Genetics
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