UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO

 

 

BERKELEY * DAVIS * IRVINE * LOS ANGELES » RIVERSIDE * SAN DIEGO * SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA * SANTA CRUZ

 

 

 

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94143
DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY

Box 0536
KD
30 October 1988 %

Joshua Lederberg

President

The Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue

New York, NY 10021-6399

 

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

This letter is to acknowledge receipt of your most interesting account on
the origins of the clonal selection theory of antibody formation, which
corrects the error in my book. I am very glad that you provided this
information. Having encountered so many historical mistakes in several
generations of secondary sources during my research, I do not wish to
perpetuate any from my own narrative, even if, as in this case, the author of
the primary source was in error. Alas, the damage has been done. However,
please be assured that if and when my publisher requests a revised or
second edition, the time of your visit to Melbourne and the pronoun used in
describing your work with Nossal will be corrected. Indeed, I will cite
your paper in Trans NY Acad Sci.

I am pleased that you are enjoying my somewhat unorthodox historical review
of immunology. Although I am continuing my research in cutaneous microbial
ecology (maintaining a link with TAGO as a marketing consultant), it is

the ever widening and penetrating field of immunology that excites me. In
your section, "Retrospection: Thirty Years Later,” you rhetorically ask
what sane person would have postulated today's [immune cell] menagerie in
1957? Quite so. Who would have dared then to link the immune, endocrine,
and neurological systems, let alone conscious mind? And what would
Metchnikoff say about his versatile macrophage?

Once more, thank you for your preprint and correction.

Yours sincerely,

J Debra Jan“Bibel, Ph.D.
° »y Research Associate, Kaiser Foundation

Je!