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Letter from Linus Pauling to Henry B. Bull. June 22, 1943.
Pauling writes to express his disagreement with Bull's opinion that a program of research on artificial antibodies is premature. Pauling suggests that only through experimentation can any breakthroughs be made in developing a body of knowledge on the structure of proteins. Pauling does agree, however, with Bull's thoughts on the need for reproducibility in experimentation.

Transcript

June 22, 1943

Dr. Henry B. Bull

Northwestern University

The Medical School

305 East Chicago Avenue

Chicago, Illinois

Dear Dr. Bull:

I am sorry to say that my wife and I have not, because of our duties here, been able to get away on a vacation. I am still hoping that we can take a few days off.

I do not agree with your idea that the manufacture of artificial antibodies should be delayed until information about the configuration of the surface of the globulin molecule is at hand. If we need to know about the structure of proteins before working with proteins no protein experiments at all could be carried out. I agree, of course, that experiments aren't worth very much until they are reproducible.

Thanks for your suggestions about experiments to be carried out.

I shall be glad to see the report on your work, when you get time to prepare it and send it to me. I understand that it is not satisfactory for publication, but I need to have a detailed account of the work in order to plan what should be done next and to avoid duplication of effort.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling

LP:jr

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