[Some paragraph breaks added for ease of reading]113 Union Lane,
Cambridge, England.
Sept. 18, 1931.Dear Miss Turner,
Here I am quite nicely settled with an English family - man, wife and two girls of fifteen and seventeen - within five minutes walk of the Dunn Nutrition Laboratory of Cambridge University.
Now to bring you up to date on my whereabouts since I saw you off at Rotterdam; I'll start with the Hague. I followed your directions to the ferry and found the route a most interesting one. All sorts of people were on the ferry all minding their own business and I quite enjoyed the too short ferry. I must say I felt quite alone! The next morning I went back to the Art Gallery and in the afternoon left for Antwerp. There I had a fine room overlooking the square and was welcomed at once by a Carillon concert from the Cathedral next door, and later entertained by a band concert on the square itself.
Next morning I saw the Cathedral, the old castle on the riverbank, the transatlantic steamers at their docks, and later went to Mass at the Cathedral with an American woman from Boston. Then I spent the rest of the morning at the Plantin Museum. It was as interesting as you had led me to expect and I was only sorry I had not more time to spend there. After dinner I went back to the cathedral and then went to the Royal Art Gallery. The pictures there were lovely. I left late in the afternoon for Brussels[.]
I can heartily recommend the Hotel Gallia there. The first thing on Monday I went to see the Hotel de Ville. It was just a revelation of art in civic buildings. The Guild houses are lovely too, each as different from the adjoining ones. St. Gulde has fine windows and the Museé Ancien has some fine Quentin Matsys. In spite of rain I went to Malines in time for the Carillon concert. The bells surely are wonderful, but to be quite frank I wish one time had been familiar. As for Malines itself it rather shocked me by its dirty market place. The Belgians are not as tidy as the Germans and the Dutch! I would like to know why the Belgian women wear house slipper most of the time in the street. I do sound like a critical American but I would like to know!
The next morning I went back to see the interior of the Guild Hall as it was too dark to see it well the preceding day, and had the good luck to see the end of a wedding. There all the attendants wear old civic dress, and it was a most impressive sight. Yes and I found the nice restaurant and it was good - not as wonderful as that one at the Hague however, but equally interesting. Yes and I really bought some Brussels lace and am quite thrilled about having it. In the afternoon I went to Louvain and had a most interesting time at the Guild House and heard from the caretaker this season for the sack of Louvain. Have you heard this reason - that Germans pushed back by the allies were fired on by advancing troops. To cover up this mistake the Belgians were blamed and Louvain attacked. This would not account for the continuance of the burning for eight days. Apparently the Begians expected the invasion and the consequent looting, as everything of value including all metal, candelabra etc in the Hotel de Ville as well as in other places was hidden two weeks before Louvain was sacked. I also saw the Cathedreal, the Art Gallery and the exterior of the new library in the company of a nice Englishman and an extraordinarily boring wife!
At Bruges I found the Hotel Panier d'Or most convenient but a rather ramshakle [sic] place. It is one of the very old houses in the main square directly opposite the Belfry, with most unexpected stairs at inconvenient places. I fell headlong coming out of the toilet - forgetful of the step leading from it to the hall, but survived this and an subsequent fall without any ill effects, and with a decided increase in caution! Bruges is really a lovely place and "grows on you." I kept up our own record and climbed the "belfry" before I'd been in Bruges an hour. The Memling paintings are even lovelier than you'd led me to expect and I saw them twice. A new central Museum is a gem and it was there that I saw pictures by the two Breughels, and several other remarkable ones. I am thankful I found a book on Belgium Art in Brussels as it was invaluable. The galleries in Belgium have all been rearranged and in many pictures are not named or there is no catalogue of those in the special gallery. As it was with your advice and the book I did see most of the "starred" ones and a great many other very lovely ones in both Brussels and Bruges and Ghent.
At Ghent I arrived in time to find all the churches closed from 12-2.30, so first ate, then visited the "Chateau des Comtes des Flandres." It was so entirely different from anything I've ever seen that it made a lasting impression on me and I'd strongly recommend it as a place worth visiting. I wandered about along the quais and found one interesting place after another and quite hated to leave. Van Eyck's Adoration of the Lamb is surely a wonderful painting. All the detail is so unbelievably perfect that I marvelled at it more and more and there I stayed until it was time to get a return train.
Next morning I got an excellent train to Ostend, embarked and sailed on a calm but deceiving North Sea. Before we landed we'd tossed about more than I ever have but I felt quite all right - even during dinner at which I met a charming Belgian and his equally nice English wife. I hope I may meet them again somewhere in Belgium. I had no trouble with customs and was soon in London and settled at Crosby Hall.
Cold! Well the thermometer registered 38° so I at once invested in wool stockings and a lovely blue sweater which I lived in for the next ten days. At Crosby Hall I met an interesting Austrian M.D. from Vienna, the director of all dental school clinics for Vienna and delegated by the League of Nations to investigate dental school work in other countries. There was also a Dr. Vinton, a Wellesley graduate about seventy years old, very frail, whom everyone felt quite concerned about. Do you know her or about her? Her home is now in Washington.
After visiting Westminster Abbey and the National Gallery - two freezing places - on Sunday, and the University of London on Monday I came on to Cambridge and stayed at the Garden House Hotel for a week. In the meantime it was evident that it was too far from the laboratory which accounts for my moving to the present address. Just the evening before I left I met a very interesting young German M.D. who told me that Dr. Fischer - Maya's husband, is one of the brilliant young chemists in Germany. One of his friends is doing research under him in Freiberg. Overhearing our conversation first one and then another English lady joined us and we had a most stimulating evening. One woman was the widow of a famous philosopher of Cambridge, a Mrs. Ward. She is the sister of Newell Martin who taught at Johns Hopkins, and is a graduate of Newnham. She is eighty years old and one of the keenest people you could wish to meet. The other lady is the widow of a former Cambridge and Oxford professor of archeology, and is about seventy and equally interesting. The only thing that consoled me at moving the next day was that they were leaving within a few days. I did see each of them once again before they left, and expect the young German to visit me at the laboratory some day next week.
Now as to work. I have learned the colorimetric method of detecting vitamin A by testing liver of various animals, and am now trying it on beef liver cooked in all sorts of ways, as well as on special liver from animals fed on diets high in vitamin A or carotene content. I'll finish this in the next ten days, and will continue with tests on wheat flour which I've just started. Dr. Moore is an unusually fine person and I'm very glad to come here for the month.
The B.A.A.S. meetings start to-morrow and I'm going to London Thursday to stay over until Friday night or Saturday. Prof. Hopkins and Prof. Dale are both to speak on Friday the former opening a symposium on the chemistry of vitamins. Do. Moore is to give one report as part of it. THe Biochemists meet here the following week so I'll have a chance to see all the famous ones in England at that time. I'd like to attend the whole session of the B.A.A.S. but that would be pure luxury and too time consuming just now. Two days will be a good sample.
You probably wonder what the financial situation is like here. Every one I see is quite calm yet not at all blind to the seriousness of the situation. At the laboratory we have discussed it daily, as each day's paper is full of important political and financial news. It seemed inevitable after Saturday's news that the gold standard would have to be abandoned; but I do hope inflation and profiteering can be checked. Without doubt prices of essentials will rise as so much has to be imported here. Warnings have already been issued against profiteering and the government was asked to-day what measures would be used to prevent it. I am aghast at the attitude of the labor party and can not help thinking it must influence foreign investors. Of course the defection in the navy was a serious thing and probably featured more in foreign than in English papers. I admire Mac Donald and Snowden and apparently they have the support of the majority of people throughout this country to judge from quite different newspapers editorials. Whether there will be a general election I do not known [sic] as things are happening so rapidly and are so momentous.
Now I must stop as it is high time I went to bed. You'll need to read this by installments. Please remember me to Charlotte and to any of my Smith friends.
I do hope you've recovered completely from your illness. What a shame when you seemed so well when you started. I know it does make you pretty wobbly and you must have been thankful when you were through customs. I do appreciate all your comments on customs regulations and your nice long letter. Do write me again.
Affectionately yours,
Myra Sampson[Myra Sampson was a professor of zoology at Smith College from 1909 to 1955.]