[written in Lederberg's handwriting, Pease]
[stamped, 8 APR 1945]
Feb. 10
Dear Lederberg: --
It was good to hear from you again when your letter was finally forwarded to me here. The war research was finished last spring, although the publications may dribble out for some time to come. I am sending such reprints as I have.
I suppose you are pretty will through medical school by now although your letter leaves me curious. Also, I wonder what your ultimate plans may be with an M.D. degree? I realize that the army will hang on to you for a while, but are you eventually planning on research medicine? There are all too few research men, and the money is certainly poor. But you had real research abilities and enthusiasm, and I would like to see you go into that field. You were interested in the things other than the purely practical, and might make a real success of experimental work. I don't know whether or not you got discouraged with the colchine work, but plenty of heads have batted against
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that stone wall. You surely know enough about drug work by now to realize that only only a small fraction of it is really a science. Most of pharmacology remains purely empirical. You just picked a tough nut to start out with, and one that will probably wait many years for clarification. Quite likely your interests are very different by now, and I wish you all success. If you still have your former enthusiasm, I am sure you won't need my wishes to accomplish your ends.
Sincerely
Daniel C Pease