Lloyd TriestinoPiroscafo "Pilsna"
Gulf of Suez,
June 15, 1928.Dear Miss Turner,
Are you in the U.S.A. (when you read this) or are you starting for Europe? I wish I knew. Miss Holt's last said you were still planning to go so I hope that means that the Baltimore man had approved the plan.
I sent a long letter from London to Brookline & asked them to send it on to you. Much of it was a tale of woe, I fear, for the Atlantic trip was horrid & I had a bad time in London, but since then all has been splendid.
I wrote them about the visits to Cambridge & University College & the School of Medicine for Women. Folks were awfully kind, everywhere. The most helpful were Hele at Cambridge (he's next to Hopkins & likely to follow him, they told me) & D. T. Harris at London. I shall feel free to write to either of those men later & that will be a help. The London scheme is more nearly what I shall want, I think. They give 2 years to Physiology (including Biochem & Histology) & Anatomy as compared with Cambridge's three. I was interested to hear Harris say they were considering putting Histology with Anatomy rather than Physiology. They do a lot of Histology at all 3 places, including a lot of technique. They do much more by way of practical biochem than we did at Harvard, much blood chem & chem of enzymes. I've got Cole's Practical Physiol. Chem. which they use at Cambridge & Dale & Harris' Practical Physiology & Harris' Histology which they use at London. Also Harris gave me a bunch of old exam papers, & offered to correct some of my papers to give me a notion of the standards. He was most kind.
In both places I find they give the first year to a sort of preliminary survey of the whole field & then go into greater detail later. The elementary physiology that many [?] folks have in their intermediate course will help me out there as regards time. They will be doing English & vernacular & another science as well so their time will be limited. I find from Edith Coon & from an Indian Prof. of Chemistry (Madras) who is on this boat that there is no hope of the Chem. subsidiary (like a minor) being modified to include organic, & I see no advantage in combining inorganic chem with physiology. So I think my best move at present will be to push for the combination of chemistry main with physiology subsidiary. The staff are all keen on starting the advanced chemistry & I am, too. They will be more likely to give me my physiology soon with that combination, I think, & we could work up a very good minor on top of the intermediate work.
In Denmark I saw Krogh & his new labs which are awfully nice. Mrs. Krogh was out but he showed me her metabolism lab & apparatus which is quite a different model from any of ours. In Copenhagen I was staying with Dr. & Mrs. Frimodt-Møller. He's the director of the big union mission t.b. sanatorium [sic] in So. India & the man who spotted my dystenery. His son is now in the 5th year of his medical course, with 2 years more to go. They're tremendously thorough, educationally, aren't they? I was glad for the visit there, to talk with Dr. F.M. about various angles of physiology & medicine in India, for his experience is wide & he is a keen & careful worker. He hotly contested Benedict's thesis that the measurement of the metabolisms of 50 individuals will establish my point. I wish I knew more about vital statistics. There is a Col. Russell in Madras, a brilliant Scotchman who had a year with Pearl & who is considered the expert in statistics at least in So. India. I'm glad he'll be around.
I loved Denmark, with its beech forests carpeted with anemones, its neat little country churches, & its low thatched farm houses sheltered by groups of birches & willows & fruit trees in bloom.
The trip from Copenhagen to Rome, 48 hrs., was mighty interesting, especially, of course, the part through the Alps. Poor Edith Coon was having a spell of malaria so she couldn't do much playing around but D. Eliz. & I had an awfully good time in Assisi & Rome, especially Assisi. Have you been there? In Rome I couldn't work up great enthusiasm for the ruins - they're ever so impressive, but I like things warmer, more human. The pictures were a delight, the Raphaels & Michael Angelos & Murellos & many others. I wish I might have gone to Florence.
D. Eliz. seems just as peppy as ever & just as charming. She's a dear. I'm so glad she's going to be with you, & so is she. She's bringing you for me a little thing from Assisi, a tiny copy of the painting of St. Francis preaching to the Birds, that is in his church there. She'll tell you about it.
I left her & Edith Coon & Miss Wells in Rome & took a night train to Brindisi when I embarked. This is a nice boat & thus far we've had splendid weather, tho' the monsoon threatens us in the Indian ocean. It's the off season, because we reach India right in the heat, & no one travels who doesn't have to. So, we are very few passengers & have lots of room. It's an interesting group - German, English, American, Italian, Dutch, swiss, Indian & Afghan. In Brindisi I dined with the Afghan & a Sikh & have seen much of them on this voyage. Afghanistan seems to be much on the map just now for the king has been about collecting information & [...] for his kingdom. Two of the Germans abroad are going there as engineers in his service. The Afghan gentleman is a fascinating & sophisticated creature but I wouldn't trust him around the corner. The Sikh is the gem of the Indians on board. He's a barrister who has been studying in England & is now growing his hair & beard again to comform to Sikh custom. He's a dear, frank person, one of those rare souls who live serenely, undisturbed by the world's opinion. Then there is Dr. Dey, a Bengali, a Prof. of Chemistry in Madras & friend of mine then, a jolly little scientist who might be of any nationality; a very charming Bengali lady, Mrs. Mukerjee, who has been traveling for 2 years in England & the U.S.A. studying primary education; a dapper Parsee who has been studying accounting, who thinks himself very sophisticated; a Ben Israelite, (an Indian Jew) thoughtful & sensitive; an English "father" of the Church of England, a quaint young man who takes life terribly seriously & is always popping up to entertain us with some little parlor trick. This is his first trip to India. There are a half-dozen Eurasians of the very loud & objectionable variety, with one exception. They think us very queer to hobnob with Indians so much, for they consider & treat Indians as the wind [?] under their feet.
We were in Port Said yesterday - queer old city, utterly unlike any other spot on earth. The Suez Canal is always fun, with Arabs & camels & donkeys & goats at intervals, & always dredging & ships that pass. Today we had expected to be blistering hot, but the wind, altho a following one, is strong & cool & I have actually had to get a sweater. I hope the Red Sea will treat us as well. Aden is in quarantine for plague so we can't go ashore. We're due there on the 19th, then 6 days of shooting thru the monsoon to Bombay. The trip across the Deccan will be hot as blazes but I don't mind that so much. I'm feeling very fit & must be gaining back the 8 lbs. I lost on the Atlantic. I'm crazy to reach Madras!
Very much love to you, Miss Turner, & I do hope your summer will be a nice one.