Dr. B. D. Davis,
Tba Researuh Lsb.,
C&U P,. 69 &Xeet,
New York 21, N.P.

Ds~r Bernie:

I Just saw your note in XJB on your further tests fbr a soluble tranafordtu
aunt in K-12. I am glad that someone has gotten round to do this. In my
thmria, but no&I diwovtw- in the 1947 Qenetica paper, an exper%nmt Fa mmtionedw
hich reachetit he sag conclusion: merely that the parentsw ere plated
one over the other in thin agar fil.&asm th~r than mixed. The yieid was redwed
ao drasti.criLtLhya t the no?,iU.toyf the reectinga omponents must be quite
low, snd coqmrabe to that of't he br,cteritah earsel~aaT.o ur oqx&.mat rJIould
be perfectlyf easiblee ven with tif i.l.tetrh at leaka a fan bnctmia, and might
even be ;?oreo onvincing:i t would them be poasiblet o flush the suprnatant
back and forth ratir frequently [which, by the way, I thought was thenmost
ingenious part of your exprb3ntf/

This letter is to ask you whethery ou are contemplatingt he publicationof your note. I would like vary much to encourage you to submit iti aub&anm
as 8 letter or @x? to J. &sot. There are stffl come die-hard6 to whom this
exparimant,p lus the confimmtion of the general rsaultsi n anotherl aboratory,
would be cronv%ncd.n&g&.d e frpm this considerationw,h ich you can take to
be a more generalb enefit,t he experimenti tself is a 8mal.lp iece of.i ngenuity
for whiah you should be creditMd.Paperso f a oonfirmatorgch araater are
rometimssd ifficultt o have acceptedf or publieation,b ut X am sure that there
would be no difficultyh ere.

If you do publisha 1 wouId appreciate it, as a personal favor, that you
recast the diauuseion 80 aa not to brw in the speculation [which f don't
take too seriously,a nd which ieliable to,be eonfusedw ith the he&et&A.
idea that the phase is the pprmsteo]f a smallerg amete on the basis of the
transmissiono f lambda.T hese experiment8a re still very preliminary,a nd
I think it would bs better not to refer to a speculationf or which there is
no evidence until it finds [or fails to] more definitive support. 'Fhe gradation
between TP and gamete is taken up in some detail in q 1947 paper, and I think
your experiment has some importanue in setting some sort of bound to the uisa
lor the lability]o f the reaatants,w hich are discussedt here only ib mmh
,mors general terms.
If you can spare them, I would greatly appreciate a aouple od duplicate
reprintso f your Ekpsrientiap aper: this will save a lot of headachesi n
assigning reading materials for class purposes, and I think this la one broad
paper that the students should read.
Sincerely