February 17, 1962

Dear Dr. Wolstenholme:

In response to your letter of the first, I am putting your meeting of
November 26 through 29 on my calendar, and will make a determined effort
to attend. There are unfortunately some possible interferences over which
I might have little control, but I think you have some margin of safety in
having arranged session 5 so that its success is very well assured regard-
less of my own peculations. I am not so keen about having to talk myself,
but this 48 a reasonable price for the privilege of listening, and I would
be deeply disappointed if I had to forego it.

I believe you have trimmed your program nicely, and session 2 is the
only one that strikes me as intrusive, and this only from my own special
standpoint. JY would again recommend Harrison Brown (Department of Geochemistry,
California Institute of Technology) as a potential contributor here. As to
session 1, I beleeve it would be most desirable to ask some prominent Indian
to speak on the impact of population on economic growth. Ga I have a partly
ulterior reason for suggesting this. Many Indians have bewailed long ani loud
for Western science fo produce the contraceptive "pill" that would be the pana-
cea for India's population growth. This has always seemed to me a fallacy: an
effective program of social security is a more urgent precondition. At any rate,
the “pill" now exists, as any of a number of progestational drugs which Pincus
has been instrumental in developing, but Indian reaction to this has been in-
credibly confused and divided. Would it be too "political" to ask Lehru to
address the symposium on some more general topic that would help to define his
own position on this issue, I mean the impact of medical advance on economic .
ani s@exvkek social progress in underdeveloped countries. This may be a preump-
tuous gamble, but I am not sure Nehru would not be flattered by such an invitation,
and his participation could be a mutually educational experience of some nore
than negligible practical impact. An alternative choice would be Justice Chagla,
former Indian Anbassador to the United States,

TI may try to submit some additional suggestions, at least until you advise
me that your program is filled out.

My wife would like to join me, and would be humbly pleased if there were
any possibility of her occupying an unobbiusive corner in the conference room.

Sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg