Document p0pVEa3XMd1gZ5Xx6Y6MMpJw

December 7, 1946 Dr. Rutherford T. Johnstone, 1248 Roosevelt Building* 727 Vest Seventh Street, Los Angeles 14, Celif. Dear V.ed : I am sorry It was necessary for you to prod me with a second letter. You are quite right in assuming that X have been out of my office much of the time since your original letter came. That X did not answer at once, however, vas due to the fact that your questions were not easy to answer and required some deliberation. However, I shall undertake to reply to all of your questions as well as I can. First let me say that so far as my knowledge goes there is no center of industrial medical teaching anywhere in the world. Here and there are individual investigators, or individual teachers of graduate students, but there is no school an;d there is no formal teaching and there is no outstanding person anywhere in this field. There are people who have ideas and plans, but there are no working plans. Perhaps the nearest approach to an accomplished fact along this line vas to be found in Germany, and yet even here there vas no center in which men oox^Ld get adequate training. I think there is little question that the most distinguished man in the field from the point of vle^r of research is Ferdinand Flury. As practitioners and teachers one could refer to several, but to do so would'be of no help to you, since I am quite sure that the Seotion has no intention of inviting a German to undertake this job. If they were, however, Ferdinand Flury would be the man. I do-not know anyone who would fill the bill among the Italians. I am quite sure there is no one among the French, while at the present time the British are far behind us in these matters, having only a few men who have any practical and at the same time broad, knowledge of the field. Dr. Ronald Lane, who is at the University of Manchester and who has just turned from this country, would probably be the best of their m**, _n this field. I doubt if you could get him to come back. Donald Hunter, who is a medical man of some parts, is not up to this job and, in my Opinion, should-not be considered. X know nothing about the Russians, and this statement, X believe, vlll require no explana tion. ' ' ` - ... - - - There is another man in England who has had a very considerable experience in industrial medicine, and who i* an Intelligent man I refer to Amor. During the^var he was in, charge of of work for the Government, having to do with the problem of n 7 o 7,i N22163 Dr. Rutherford T . Johnstone - (2) - December 7 1946 people In government employ. I should not feel that Merewether would contribute very much to the kind of a program you want. I know one or two other men of good quality but of limited experience among the British group`d but I think Amor would probably be the best of the lot from the point of view of breadth of vision and experience. So far as the American scene is concerned you know as. well as I the men who are doing things in industrial medicine. You also know as well as I-that there is very little actual teaching going on in the field. At least there is very little of the caliber that is required to do the job, although there are plana in the making which will have to be tried put before they can be regarded as fruitful. Of the people with a point of view# and with a very considerable degree of international recognition, the most outstanding is Dr. Alice Hamilton. As you know, she is not critical in some matters, and she is not and never has heen a critical investigator, but she has a point of view which has been consistently held through the years, and which has significantly Influenced many people.' You can name a number of others as well as I, but she is the only one of the group genuinely interested in the subject who has had a long and well known position. I have , no doubt that what she would say would be a credit to all of us \ . and would be well worth listening to. , . /' . I think at this point, if I understand your two letters (November 12 and November 15) correctly, I am confusing the issues somewhat. Alice Hamilton would probably better, fill the bill as the distinguished eminent American to read a historical paper - There v vC.c': 1 'c&b* Vhc 1c this vail, that is Bob Legge. !eturning then to the other subject of the American interest in education, I would suggest that you write to Alan Gregg of the Rockefeller Foundation, for his advice with respect to the best American expressipn on the education of the industrial physician. He knows medical education in the United States in terms of people and ideas as probably no one else does, /and he aan.'give you good advice. , . ...... ... I have heard from the underground that one ox- two people have 71 recommended Otto Geier as the man to give, the<historical paper. 'f Otto is a distinguished man, who has done*a. very;good jpb in his `, own field. I have great respect for him, anp X. should not want / ^ou or anybody else to believe otherwise. On^the other hand, he / \is distinctly not the man for this job, since it is quite certain 7 that he yill speak in terms of reminiscences rather than in history. f . !'it is necessary to give thought to what is to be said, and if you ! jknow Otto as well as I do, you know ri&zt now what he will say, and , you do not want that on this program. I am talking in straight i terms, since it is just as important that ypu do not get the wrong )i i 03932 Pr. Rutherford T . Johnstone - (;5J - December 7, 1946 chap as it is that you should get the right one. I am afraid I have not helped you very much, but I have done the best I can. Sincerely yours, RAX ef Robert A. Keiaoe", P. \ 03933