.• " r _:..

NEW YOR~~STATEAGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

GENEVA, N. Y.

A. J. HEINICKE, DIRECTOR

DIVISION OF BACTERIOLOGYTELEPHONE 2829

ROBERT S. BREEDHEAD OF DIVISION

May17t 1943.

Dr. Albert H. SabinOhildren's Hospital Research FoundationDepartment of PediatricsUniversity of CincinnatiCincinnati. Ohio.

Dear Doctor Sabin:

Last week I sent you some duplicated material ,,,hich ,'1111indicateto you the progress that we are making on the preparation of the manuscriptfor -the ne", edi tion of' the Bergey Manual. I understand that Parker Hitchenshas asked you to help him in developing som~sort of a manuscript covering thel'leuropheumonia-like organisms.

As you will see from the material sent, we are thinking of includ-ing this in a supplement as noone seems to have a positive conviction regardingthe relationship of these organisms to other bacteria. Some, of course, feelas you have suggested in your revie'toTthat they should be regarded as a separ-ate order. Other more recent work seems to me to indicate a pretty close re-lationship between these organisms and somethat we have included in the familyParvobacteriaceae. As a sort of a compromise, I have used the family nameBorrelomycetaceae, but this is subject to change.on your and Dr. Hitchens'recommendation.

Anyone"rho draws up an Outline Classification usually gives the im-pression to the uninitiated that he has morepositive convictions about re-lationships of groups than he intends. Hence, someof us hesitate to expressour ideas in the form of Outline Classification. However, such Outline Classi-fications normally prove stimulative and provocative of discussion that clari-fies the situation as you probably have found from the experience that you havehad in connection "dth your Or~ review published in Bacteriological Reviews.

Because you have had just this exparience, I was very muchpleasedto h.e.veDr. Hitchens ask you to develop this outline, and I hope you are makingprogress "tith it. Because the material is to be included in a supplement at theedd of the volumeyou still have some time in which to prePare the manuscript,but as soon as you can conveniently do it, I wish you "lOuldsubmit ~outline ofthe classification that you propose to hE,veso that I can fit it into the keywhich ,-rill be printed in the early part of the volum~, approximately page 70.Please feel free, for example, to suggest any improvements in the key that Ihave sent to you. particularly as applied to the groups in the supplement. .

Dr. Sabin, --2.

Various persons have already questioned the use of theterm.Virales "rhich indicates that Virusttshould be rege.rd.edas an order.Personally I suspect a family namewould be more sui table. Others haveDr~ Stanley's work so firmly fixed in mind that they regard it definitelyestablished that viruses are inanimate. I Understand that Dr. Stanley doesnot feel that his work definitely establis~es such to be the case.

Whatis your feeling in regard to the matter t

Vli th best ,.nahes,

Sincerely yours

4~'~

RSB-E.

Copyto

Dr. A. RttchensHniversitY'of P~sylvaniaMedical SchoolPhiladelphia, Pa.,

Dr. E. G. D•. Murx:a,:' :McGill Universityl~ontreaJ., P~ Q., Canada.

P. S. I learned by 'phone that Parker Hitchens has had a bout ~dth thegrippe that kept him awayfrom his l'rorkfor nearly three weeks sothat he has not been able to catch up ~nth his corresnondencevery well. - R. S. :Breed. '" t