St. Gertrand in
Sulden. Aug 21.My dear Miss Turner:
I was very glad to have your letter. You already know how very sorry I am to lose you. We shall all miss your cheerful ways. Of course it has been very hard for you. But it is difficult to see how the burden could have been lightened. No doubt if I had been less clumsy your days might have been less monotonous. You must believe that I would have liked to be far more considerate than I appeared. Howell would have done it better, but he would not have cared more.
I suggest that you let me try to arrange for you to pass all your requirements next autumn, so that you will have only the thesis left. Since the part of your subject on which you have thus far worked is very difficult, I think you would do well to try a related subject - the influence of fatigue on tonus contractions. Please examine Storey's two papers (or one) in the Journal. This work, with proper help from Boston, could be done in your own laboratory. It would be interesting, important, and relatively easy.
If you think well of this please write me on my arrival (Sept 30). Don't think of giving up your Ph.D. It is not necessary - you will surely manage to win out.
Yours faithfully
W. T. Porter