Maurice Wilkins, 21 April 1953

The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.



Full transcription: “Dear Leonard, I haven’t heard of Sexton & as you don’t specify the kind of chemistry he does it is not easy to trace. (There I go again, grumbling at you for lack of precision) / DNA S180 is very good, crystalline ^like the best Signer specimen of calf thymus we have. Could you send us more of this? It has some salt in it, do you know what is likely [-] Na or Mg or what?
DNA VII 31 March 1953 chromic myeloid WBC
& DNA w b.c. 1/28/53
Are both about the same. Some crystalline. Some paracrystalline.
If you could send ~50 mgm of S180 we can do its nucleotide ratio, water uptake etc & dialyse the salt out. Can you spare that much? (or more)
How are you & Anne. It was nice seeing you last summer.
Bumper number of Nature on DNA next week I think. My contribution is hastily and badly written. M.
Can you let us know method of DNA prep? We are interested to find what produces crystallinity. Or is it a trade secret? If it is don’t worry.
[Table of DNA samples follows on second page.]