Document QLZbvywxbNboM3yNXX43Qgm4

April 21, 1947 Dr. Willard Machle, 714 Chrysler Building, New York City 17' Pear Bill: Thanks for your letter of April 8 and for your more recent one. I shall answer both at one "time. I had expected to be in Rev York the week of the 21st, but my plans have had to be changed, and it is unlikely that I shall be in the east until some time in May. Thank3 for sending me the file on the V. Irvin Veidenhammer case, since this fills out my information in a wholly satisfactory manner. Incidentally in cases of this type that come to your attention, do not hesitate to follow through, according to your own judgment on these matters. Whenever a situation arises in which I am drawn into cases of this sort that occur* in your area, I shall call the matter to your attention and shall make such request of you as seems advisable under the circumstances. As you know, these matters sometimes come to me by way of the telephone, or through correspondence from other direct or indirect channels . I usually take such action as msy be required at the moment and then forward any information which would seem to be required to any one of the members of the Medical Department who may be involved in any way. However, time does not always permit the preparation of a memorandum, and I shall not concern myself unduly with these matters unless some situation arises in which there is need for prompt or local action. I think that in view of our general understanding of these situations there is very little likelihood of our getting our lines crossed. On the other hand, as you will remember, I am held directly responsi ble, and for-. . obvious reasons, for medico-legal matters, and I have no willingness to shirk my responsibilities in this regard or to deal lightly with them, since one never knows what may be the ramifications of a specific case. Therefore, I shall keep you as well informed as circumstances will permit, and will expect you to do likewise- So far as I can see, neither of us need bjg, unduly concerned as to the minutiae of our individual activities in these matters, except when it is quite apparent that the survival of some individual is at stake- On the examination of the urine and lung which you sent us for ana lysis, we are not yet prepared to carry out the proper procedure in the case of tissues. Therefore,in order not to lose the information that may be available eventually, I have asked Cholak to hold the piece of lung until we are prepared to deal with it with a consider able degree of certainty. Sincerely yours , p. 5. Jack just informs me that they have analyzed the piece of lung, and the report is enclosed herevith. The only problem was that of a loss of material in the process of preparation. This was avoided, ve hope, by resort to vet ashing. The evidence is quite clear that dry ashing, that is,combustion, results in serious loss of beryllium. >! Enc. H. A. K. HE 0012364