UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

 

POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL
| OF LONDON

Telegrams °

FOHGRARHED “crisk LONDON DUCANE ROAD
e one .

SHEpherds Bush 1260 (4 fines) LONDON, W.12
Department of Bacteriology. 29 July,1952.

 

Dear Cavalli,

I want,first of all,to thank you very much for all
the trouble you have taken on my behalf. This you should not have done.
I have not yet received the $101 so yesterday I rung up American Express
and they said they had not yet received the money from the Rockefeller
in Paris. I therefore assume that when the latter told you that the
money had already been despatched to me,they made a mistake and have
now cancelled its despatch themselves. Please do not do anything more
about the matter. Nora and I will arrive at Pallanza at about 9.50 on
the morning of Monday Spetember 1. We are flying overnight to Geneva
and are catching the 6.10 a.m. train from there,changing at Brigue
and Domodosola. It is indeed very good of you to offer to meet us
at the station but please do not trouble as you may find that it is a
nuisance when the time comes. Your offer to put us up at your home
if we wished to visit Milan after Pallanza is most kind. We both feel,
however,that we would prefer to spend the short time we have on Lake
Magkiore,especially since the opera season(Nora is mad about opera) is
not on.

I received your paper yesterday and,after reading it,
sent it off to the editor. I found it very interesting,especially
your findings with regard to Hfr. I had not realised that prototrophs
from an Hfr X F- cross were Fx, I gathered,however,that the prototrophs,
too,were Hfr and am wondering whether they are also unstable and
revert to prototrophic NfrF+. I cannot explain the Hfr findings nor
the 58-161 F- phenocopy on my theory(as yet!) and find them both very
intriguing. I hope we will have time for a more extended discussion
on recombination at Pallanza than when last we met. You will find my
paper awaiting you on your return and will notice that we have both
selected very similar titles. I have made out as good a case as I can
for my own theory(perhaps on too little data) but I am by no means
convinced of the unity of F+ agent and "gene carrier",the latter,of
course,being entirely hypothetical. As regards your own paper,a few
of the sentences were,as you admitted,rather "unenglish" and consequent-
ly not very clear although,knowing what it was all about, I had no
difficulty in understanding your meaning. If you like, I woud be very

pleased to deal with this should the editor request such alterations.
PTO.
I would,of course,take great care not to alter the meaning in any way!
Incidentally I would like a copy but only if and when you are having
copies typed anyway. I have not done any new work on recombination
Since the beginning of July and doubt if I will manage to get anything
more done until October. My aim at the moment is to clean up the UV
work and get it published,and out of the way.

I think it is a good idea of yours that I should pay
for your reprints. I will write to the publishers and find out
approximately how much they will cost.

Congratulations on your invitation to read a paper
on the genetics of antibiotic resistance at Paris. I am sure that
you and your wife enjoyed yourselves and that the paper went down well.

I ca'nt at the moment think of anything more to say!
Please do'nt bother to reply to this. When you made your derogatory
comments about writing I did not know whether you meant writing papers
or included letter-writing. Personally,I hate them both though itg is
pore une effort in overcoming initial inertia than the actual writing
itself!

Thanks again for your many kindnesses.

Yours sincerely,