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June 2 1958
Cambridge University Press,
32 E. 57th St.
New York 22, N.Y.
Attention Mr. Robert W. Adamson.
Gentlemen,
Thanks for your letter of May 22, addressed to "Professor" A. M. Scott. I must tell you, however, that I am not a Professor, nor am I connected with any educational institution. I am, in fact, a retired Civil Engineer, whose hobby for the last 20 years has been the collection and study of a certain group of microscopic algae known as Desmids. In this I have attained some international reputation, and it is the subject of the paper that I wrote, in collaboration with Prof. G.W.Prescott, of Michigan State University, which will appear in Vol. III of the Reports of the Arnhem Land Expedition, supposed to be published next August.
I think the only library in New Orleans that might purchase a set of the Arnhem Land Reports is the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans 18. The Librarian's name is Dr. Garland S. Taylor, and I suggest that you send him one of your brochures. He does not know me personally, but you may mention my name as one of the authors in Vol. III. I also should like to see the brochure (or brochures if there are several), and if they are in short supply I will return them after perusal.
A couple of years ago Dr. R. L. Specht visited me in New Orleans with his wife and small daughter, and some years before that I had a short talk with Dr. Setzler when he lectured on Arnhem Land at Tulane University.
The botanical volume ought to interest certain members of such Societies as the Botanical Society of America, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and my paper would interest some members of the Phycological Society of America, so it would be in order for you to circulate the membership of those Societies. However, most of the specialists in my line will receive reprints from me or from Prescott. I suggest that you send the book for review to the American Inst. of Biological Sciences, and advertise it in the A.I.B.S. Bulletin. The book ought to be in the library of all the large universities in this country, and in particular you might send an announcement to Prof. Jos. Ewen, Dept. of Botany, Tulane University, New Orleans 18., who knows me.
Now, here is a subject on which I hope you will be good enough to give me your views. Many specialists have contributed their work in the various "ologies" to the published Reports, and I expect that many or most of them have salaried positions, like Specht at the Univ. of Adelaide and Setzler at the Smithsonian. On the other hand I did the work in my own time, working at nights and Saturdays and Sundays, and it took me nearly two years to complete the study. Of course I did it without any expectation of a pecuniary reward, simply for my own enjoyment as a hobby. The work is difficult and time-consuming, because desmids are quite invisible to the naked eye and must be studied under the microscope at high magnifications. A drawing must be made of each different kind, magnified anywhere from 500 to 2000 times. Some of them require three drawings showing the front, side and top views, like the front elevation, side elevation, and floor plan of a house. So these minute plants, the smallest of which is about 1/4000 of an inch diameter, must be manipulated, floating in water, into three different
