Document 3X08Gk1JoMKabX3BkGK8BaVO

April 193$ Mr* F* E* Wormser Lead Industries Association %20 Lexington Avenue Hew York vity Hew York Dear Mr* Wormsr:~ X am already familiar with the article by Dr* Horatio B, Williams to which you referred in your letter of April $th* As a matter of fact* Philip Drinker of the Journal of Industrial Hygiene ashed me to review the article for their abstract service* X did so but 1 found it necessary to review it at some length in order to cover the matter adequately* and there was not room in the Journal for an abstract of the sise I provided* Accordingly the review will not appear. X have no objection* however* to sending you a copy of the review which expresses my point of view about the whole paper quite clearly* ' . As to the host tactics for dealing with a misleading article of this sort, X feel that it is the better part of wisdom to devote as little attention to. it as possible* Any attacks which are made upon it will only bring wider and more concentrated attention to bear upon it* and will omise it to be disseminated much more widely* Moreover I think you a^e not justified in taking too seriously the aouthingi. of Dr* .Logan Clen&ening, and various other syndicated medical writers* :fhe greater portion of ail that they writ Is trash and is quite generally recognised as such by well Informed persons* and is ignored completely by a very large proportion of the population. To attack these gentlemen* or m m to try to modify their statements, is only to give them more publicity*-and by Irritating them to produce an augmentation of their efforts rather than a reduction* With these ideas in ..mind* X wrote to Drinker when X sent in my-review* and suggested at that time that in my opinion such a review would result in attracting more attention to the article and would tend to give it much greater significance than It deserves. With all due respect to Dr* Williams* who is a charming old gentleman* the article itself can be regarded as fairly adequate evidence of the senile changes which were largely* in my opinion* the basis of his complaints. X should hesitate 2 * to say this publicly and 1 would not want you to quote me, for my statement is not for m y purpose other than to explain Dr, Wllltaa*s somewhat bizarre symptoms and somewhat romantic article* . You may be interested in knowing that practically everyone with- whom 1 have talked concerning this article and who is in any way familiar with the experimental background of this field*, is of substantially the same opinion as I, I think, therefore* no very serious d&magsr will -result from the publication of .t&i# somewhat unfortunate article* I should suggest* therefore* that you ignore it so far as any formal or published review or criticism Is concerned. - " ' Very truly yours* PAKj is ^SSert'X..K-ehoe* M.D. He 0014683