Letter from Thomas Gold to Dr N A Barricelli, Dr Ralph Metcalfe, Department of Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Agrees that the paper they sent him is worth publishing. Says that 'All the nonsense that has been put out since Luna 9 has made people believe that the matter is settled. The rough surface seen there evidently suggested to many that the material could not be fragmented. Quite the opposite is true. I would prefer it is the distinction were made between dust as the origin of a deposit and the present form of that deposit, which may of course be congealed or sintered to some unknown extent. I have always stressed that I do not know this, and I can therefore not make a good guess as to the mechanical properties of the material. My story was merely that it is a deposit which was deposited as dust, not that it is now like loose dust, as in air -- in fact I am pretty sure that it is not. Gives some more comments on the paper. 24 May 1966