| Description | File of letters received and sent by Douglas Robert Wilkie between 1945 and 1949. Topics covered include Wilkie's undertaking of the Officer's artificial pneumothorax sessions at St. John's Hospital in September 1945; Royal College of Physicians Examination on Medical Anatomy and the Principles of Medicine, 4 July 1945; letters from the Central Medical War Committee; updates from Yope Bartels and L. R. White.
Notable letters, from significant correspondents are described below:
Photocopy of a letter to Wilkie from Archibald Vivian Hill FRS, praising Wilkie's paper for its accuracy and vigour of description and discussion, adding a few criticisms in relation to the accuracy of long straight fibre arrangement in specific muscles; methods of calculating compliance; suggesting emphasis on the statement concerning maximum velocity; advising Wilkie to consult the work of Levin and Wyman (1962), whom he believes produced conclusive results demonstrating that muscles have an undamped elastic component in series with the contractile one; and suggests that Wilkie reads papers by Denny Brown and Cooper and Eccles, commenting on striking differences between the myograms of different muscle from the same animals. Dated 22 November 1948.
Letter from Brian, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, warning Wilkie of Archibald Vivian Hill's 'tactics' over their paper, tipping Wilkie off about the expected criticisms specifically relating to nomenclature and inequalities, dated 11 April, no year.
Letter from Fritz Buchthal, Universitetets Neurofysiologiske Institut, Copnhagen, enclosing material and experiment data on muscle fibres and velocity, requested by Wilkie. Includes photogaphic prints, dated 18 June 1948. Appended is Wilkie's initial request from 1947.
Includes non-correspondence items:
1) Yale Newsletter, dated 25 June 1945.
2) Rough notes on skeletal mechanics, dated 25 October 1946/7, and rough notes on properties of matter and acoustics, with the second half of the page containing unrelated notes on elasticity, no date.
3) A menu for the University College London Department of Physiology Farewell Dinner to Professor C. Lovatt Evans, dated 1 July 1949, autographed by the members of the department.
4) Two index cards are also present, featuring patient notes on Thomas Holbrow, Margaret Barlow, and Edward Hollis.
Some of the letters are still within their original envelopes. |