INDIANA UNIVERSITY

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

DE TMENT OF ZOOLOGY Cc
20 Jordan Hall Dec. 15, 1961

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
Dept. of Genetics
Stanford University
Palo Alto, Calif.

Dear Josh:

Please let your wife know that I found it a delightful party at
your house and afterwards at Ming's, even if she was not always to be
understood! And even the AIBS committee meeting may have accomplished
something, thanks to you. I hope you get to send a note to Bronk, as
suggested.

Perhaps you noticed the pessimistic appraisal of the possibilities
for a long duration of any civilization, as expressed by von Hoerner in
the current (Dec. 8, 1961) issue of Science. I think he would be right
if he and others at our level elsewhere did not take the eugenics problem
seriously, and early enough. I think it is a mistake to adopt a per-
fectionist attitude about this and to wait until we can do everything in
an elegant fashion just the way we want to, because we may never get to
be able to do so unless we use cruder methods first. There is no use
giving in to people's prejudices,because their attitudes can be changed
toward social problems, as may modern as well as some older lessons show.
At any rate, someone should try to lead them in such directions.

I should be happy if you found I was mistaken in thinking that no serious
test had been made of my proposal to study the effects of weightlessness by
causing a person in a horizontal position, in a rubber suit, immersed in
brine, to be rotated around his body axis. Did you know that when I tried
to give my little paper on this subject (later published in Science) before
the symposium on the biological uses of earth satellites, held in Washington
in May, 1958, that the chairman, Otto Schmitt, refused to let me speak until
I got him overruled by a vote of the whole meeting? He merely told me,
without explanation, that the "committee" had decided against it, but the
committee was actually himself. There had been a session reserved for con-
tributed papers and there was plenty of time for my paper. I suspect that
Schmitt prewented follow-up experiments along these lines being carried out,
but I hope I am wrong. At any rate, I know that quite a number of peovle Kase hn-
expressed themselves as interested in having such work done,and I still think
it would be useful even though we have come to the period where weightlessness
can be tried out dirgctly. Because it may prove to be a method of pre-
screening people for, free-fall condition, and also for studying various physio-
logical reactions under such conditions, without leaving the laboratory.

Again with much appreciation of your and your wife's hosvitality,

Yours sincerely,

rJM:sih H, J. 3 r