July 30, 1965

Mr. Walter Sullivan, Science Editor
The New York Times

229 West 43rd Street

New York, N. Y. 10036

Dear Mr. Sullivan,

I do not know whether the enclosed material would go across your

desk in any case, but I wanted to make sure that you had a chance

to see it. I very much admired your book, "We Are Not Alone", and

I believe you would not have let the small point that I raised go

by without some cautionary reaction yourself. The point may seem

to be a small one but in fact the question of primitive life is one
of the major objectives of further planetary exploration and it would
be a real shame to have it dismissed on such hasty and superficial
analysis of the Mariner photographs.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics

Enclosure