Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1569

Carbon of a letter from Heath to Donald H. Andrews, Department of Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 18, Maryland

August 9, 1956

Dear Professor Andrews:

     The visit that my grandson and I had with you yesterday afternoon was an inspiration indeed. I am greatly indebted to Dr. Harper for having made this pos­sible. There is probably nothing in the world so enjoyable as the intellectual and artistic delights in the communication of corresponding discoveries, appreciations and ideals.

     I want to thank you also for the reprint of your article in Main Currents for May, 1955, my reading of which has been a very pleasurable further experience. I am especially struck by your “New Faith in Perception of the Integral Order of Nature,” as indicated in your subtitle, for it seems to me that all rationality must rest on the ratios between quantities numerically ex­pressed, hence dependent upon integral units of organi­zation, whatever be the level of investigation. This rational understanding and the beauty it involves surely is the key to the creative power of the human spirit.

     Your interpretation of nature in terms of music is intriguing indeed. I am much impressed by your examination of the harmonic relationships among the atomic rhythms orchestrated in the molecule. I hope to learn more about this.

Sincerely yours,

SH/m