RICHARD P. STRONG - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 299789

RICHARD P. STRONG
Departing on a medical expedition to Africa, he thanks the mother of one of his students.
Autograph Letter signed: "Richard P. Strong", 7 pages, 4½x7. At sea, 1926 July 18. On letterhead of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company to "My Dear Mrs. Wheeler", in full: "It was so very kind of you to write and to send the lovely flowers. They have been upon our table all the time and have been greatly enjoyed by us all. Unfortunately Mrs. Strong did not see them as they were so many good byes to say that I did not get my steamer packages until after we left the wharf. I shall write & tell Mrs. Strong how every kind you were to remember us. It was of course a great disappointment not to have Ralph go with us for a number of reasons. I of course think his internship in the hospital is most important and that he ought not to let anything interfere with that. However as that does not come until January I think he might have obtained valuable experience with the expedition during the summer & fall months. He is doubtless right however in taking this opportunity in the summer of studying in other laboratories. I know you can have no worries with keen eyes, an excellent observer and a hard worker. He was of the greatest help to a number of us on the Amazon expedition. It was not only because I was fond of him & interested in him that I wanted him to come with us this time. I knew that he would do good work and I told him he should publish individually his own contributions. I did not think I ought to urge him to come because I think Ralph probably knows best what he ought to do. It was such a pleasure to see Professor Wheeler looking so well again before I came away. With kindest regards to Adeline & Ralph & Professor Wheeler & yourself and again thanking you for your very kind thought of us. Yours very sincerely". Richard Pearson Strong (1872-1948), of Harvard Medical School, was one of the world's foremost experts on tropical diseases. Beginning with research on plague and dysentery conducted in the Philippines (1899-1913), Strong took part in medical expeditions to many tropical countries, including an Amazon expedition (1924-1925) and the expedition to Liberia and the Congo on which he was embarked when he wrote this letter. During World War I, he conducted research on trench fever and other war-related illnesses in Europe. Ralph Emerson Wheeler, the student discussed in this letter to his mother Dora Wheeler, also became a noted epidemiologist. Normal mailing folds. Slightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.