MERRILL MOORE, M. D.

384 COMMONWEALTH AVENUE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

KENMORE 3160

February 10, 1939

Mr. Kenneth Macpherson
26 Maiden Lane
London, England

Dear Bryher:

The other day I sent you a book "Growing Plants Without Soil". I hope that it might be the basis for a good article on the subject in "Life and Letters Today". If I had more time I would write it but I am so tied up it is not possible.

Today, February 6, 1939, I met Turtle at 8:30 and drove him to the United States District Court. There at 11:00 (after a long wait) he became an American citizen. He was very happy, like a child. On Saturday, February 4 the Leitens arrived. I have met them both. She is in good spirits and a little bit keyed up by all the stimulation.

Tonight we are giving Turtle a dinner at the Harvard Club at 6:30. Max will be present also Mr. Leiten, David Pokross some other friends and myself. That is all the news, but quite a lot.

Our thoughts are with you. I hope things are going smoothly and no worse. I hope you enjoy the book and that it reaches you safely.

I sent those books about Palestine (by Ziff) and they all arrived. They went to Manders, Wedgewood, Duff Cooper The Duchess of Atholl and others. They all replied with polite and friendly notes. Do let us hear from you and let us know how you are. We read in the papers that England has put in an order for 200,000,000 jute bags.

MERRILL MOORE, M. D.

KENMORE 3160

October 1, 1940

Mrs. Kenneth Macpherson
c/o Life and Letters Today
26 Maiden Lane
London, England

Dear Bryher:-

I hope you found other letters for you from me waiting in London. I have been writing to you in Switzerland and in London in the hope of some of the letters getting through. Needless to say all our thoughts are with you.

I have all your letters and am following all your suggestions to the letter.

I have been in touch with Hanns who has been feeling the greatest anxiety for you.

I hope to heaven that you are well and safe and that the trip from Lisbon to London was as interesting as I am sure it must have been and I trust it was reasonably comfortable.

We are hoping that you can come this way. Any resource we have is available to you. I have a home and offer it to you if you will come and share it with me.

In the meantime let us hear from you and send on to me anything in the way of letters of literary material you want me to take care of. I will be only too happy to do so.

With affectionate greetings,

KENMORE 3160

February 28, 1940

Mrs. Kenneth Macpherson
Villa Kenwin
Burier Sur La Tour
Vaud Suisse
Switzerland

Dear Bryher:

I am sending a small item for your Curiosa.

You have probably heard that physicians are now
studying the electrical waves given off by the human brain.
This is a matter of great interest to neurologists and
psychiatrists and promises to give some information about
the mind and the personality, though at present it is only
of limited clinical use.

I have been working with my friends, Dr. Frederick
Gibbs and Dr. Hallowell Davis, of the Harvard Medical School,
who are studying these phenomena. Out of curiosity, Dr. and
Mrs. Hallowell Davis have made the enclosed record of my own
brain waves, which I thought you might like to see. Each
line comes from a different portion of the brain. These were
taken January 13, 1940, at the Harvard Medical School. They
do not show very much in particular but in spots indicate that
I was momentarily drowsy, having worked late the night before.

It is quite possible that, in the future, study of
these waves may throw light on some of the more obscure present
features of mental functioning. Knowing your interest in things
of this sort, I am taking the liberty of sending these along with
my best wishes.

PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL IS RESTRICTED

THE BOSTON DAILY GLOBE—SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1946

Boston Doctor Says China's Black Market
Prices U. S. Car at $24,000 in Chungking

Lt Col Moore Decorated at Nanking
for Spraying DDT and Halting Disease

By GLADYS GOODALL

Peace is a distant prospect in
China, but, even so, its larger
cities, notably Nanking, are
making some recovery after 14
years of invasion, Lt Col Merrill
Moore, Boston psychiatrist, who
was surgeon of the Nanking
Headquarters Command, Unit-
ed States Army, said in an in-
terview upon his return here
from the Orient.

Last year Nanking's modern
hospital housed the "filthy and
bestial" Japanese occupying
forces. Its windows had been
knocked out to let out smoke
from bonfires in the rooms,
which served also for sleeping
and primitive toilet. Today, it
has been repaired and, except
for a lack of beds, is ready to
give Nanking its first hospital
facilities in 10 years.

Under Lt Col Moore's direction,
the city has become the first
world capital to be sprayed with
DDT and the disease rate among
United States troops has gone as
low as 1 percent, an accomplish-
ment which recently won the Bos-
ton doctor a decoration and cita-
tion.

Maternal and child clinics are
operating, immunization projects
have been undertaken, and the
city's chlorinated water supply is
now operating under the direction
of an M. I. T. graduate, T. S. Fong.

"There is famine in China," the
doctor said. The problem, chiefly,
is lack of transportation facilities.
China has some 10,000 miles of
railroad, compared with 382,000 in
the United States.

"Where the United States has
had a black market, China has a
black, blacker, and blackest mar-
ket," the Boston doctor declared,
and cited as an example an Amer-
ican-made automobile which at a
Chinese port will cost $4000, with
the 100 percent duty; will sell to a

rich, inland merchant a few days
later for $8000; to a warlord far-
ther inland for $16,000 and will
have gone up to $24,000. American
money, by the time it reaches
Chungking.

Lt Col Moore was reluctant to
voice an opinion on the political
situation.

"Strictly as an innocent by-
stander," his analysis placed him
wholeheartedly in sympathy with
the Chiang Kai-Shek regime.
Failure to accept the recent com-
promise proposals, resulting from
Gen George C. Marshall's efforts,
is almost entirely the fault of the
Communists. Moore believes. They
seem to follow an insidious and

imposed policy aimed at keeping
China divided and weak, he as-
serted.

"Communists actually desire to
provoke open incidents with
American troops in China," he
continued.

For the American in China, liv-
ing, which once was inexpensive,
easy and safe, has become "ex-
pensive, hard, and has an element
of excitement." The latter was
Dr. Moore's discreet reference to
the fact that an American might
be shot at or kidnaped.

"Nanking has become a bald
city," Dr. Moore explained. "All
the trees have been cut down for
fuel and the municipal govern-
ment has ever been encouraging
cremation as a means of conserv-
ing wood that might otherwise
be used for coffins."

A meal in a restaurant costs $5
or more and is not as good as
the same dinner on Tyler st. in
Boston.

Dr. Moore was a happy man as
he tossed a green salad at his
home on Squantum Island, where
he lives with Mrs. Moore and
their four children. Now on
terminal leave, he will resume
private practice and his position
on the staff of the Boston City
Hospital in January. Asked if
he intends to write a book, he
said, "Indubitably," and added
that it might be a book of poetry.
He is a sonnet writer of distinc-
tion.

To Dr. Moore his outstanding
memory of China will be his as-
sociation with Gen Marshall.

"Never in my life have I known
a more magnificent character—
and man," he said. "His tact,
patience and persistent poise are
remarkable. His tedious and
thankless labors in the cause of
peace are as great as his mag-
nificent work for our country in
winning the war. I consider him
one of the truly great men of this
century. The privilege of serv-
ing under him will always be a
happy memory and inspiration to
me."

LT COL MERRILL E. MOORE

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COLLECTORS
WHAT People Talk About

MERRILL MOORE, M. D.

KENMORE 3160

January 5, 1942

Mrs. W. Macpherson
49 Lowndes Square
London, S. W. 1, England

Dear Bryher:

I am so happy to have your letter of October fourth. It is so good to hear from you and to have these lines just to keep in touch. You mentioned a contribution to Life and Letters Today. I'll send you a very short adventure story, in the casual vein, mostly a mood. England is so full of exciting stories, I suppose my little short story won't amount to much. If you want it you are welcome to it and if you don't want it don't hesitate to send it back.

Just now chiefly I am continuing my work, mainly just plain psychotherapy, and I am doing a little teaching. It was possible for me to get Dr. Sachs in contact with the paper so that he could write those fine articles that you saw in the Globe. They are doing lots of good, perparing people to accept the inevitablities of sacrifice for defense and also giving his psychological viewpoint to the public, which is a great help. The Editor of the Globe is greatly pleased with his articles. I think he will do a series of them.

On January first we are all going to have lunch together; he, Mrs. Barsis, Ann Leslie and myself. At noon on that day we drank a toast to you fervently and affectionately.

He seems to be well and thriving in spite of the Boston winter which has been mild but is now getting nasty.

I am delighted to hear about spinning. It is a wonderful thing, so would a loom be. The war is teaching us many things about essentials. I think that you are going to enjoy spinning and all the other handcraft that the war acquaints us with.

Did you know that Gandhi spends all his time working at a loom, all his spare time I mean.

MERRILL MOORE, M. D.

KENMORE 3160

Mrs. W. Macpherson

-2-

January 5, 1942

The rural tradition is near to us. We live in a
defense area and may have to move out of it.

If we do we will go to my mother's farm in Tenne-
ssee, and take the children.

Frankly, I must tell you that I am delighted to hear
that you have broken away from all the English analytical
group, apart from our friends the S's. You are absolutely
right. At the present time in Boston the Psychoanalytic
Group are not being realistic. They are supplying no
leadership and nothing is happening. They are becoming
second class and getting stamped with an unfortunate
type of personality. Sachs is drifting away. The most
important and constructive work being done in psychoanalysis
today is the editing of *Imago* which Sachs is doing in a
victorious way.

I love the quotes and phrases in your letter and
appreciate hearing from you more than I can say. Do
keep on writing and posting. I know the experiments
will be noble and thrilling and as it is all things
are working out here well. The Japanese did us a great
favor by unifying us. Churchill's speech was magnificent.
I hope that you heard it over short-wave. We are getting
down to brass tacks and clearing the decks for action and
before long I hope that you will hear that our forces in
the Pacific have destroyed the Japanese Navy. We look
forward to that.

Our children are thriving. Give my love to H. D.
and Perdita and everyone else and especially yourself.

With the warmest greeting for this new year.

As ever.

Devotedly,

"Somewhere in the South Pacific"
December, 1943.

My DEAR Bryher —

This is to bring to you my best greetings and all good wishes for the coming year! We are all hoping that 1944 will be the greatest year in our history in that it may bring about the defeat of the Nazis and the beginning of the end of the Japanese Hitlerites. Particularly I hope it will bring you what you are wishing for yourself and all good things.

I WANT to let you know that I have thought of you and at the same time I want to explain why I have not written often and fully as I would like to do. As a matter of fact I feel guilty over not having written, because I enjoy receiving and reading mail so much and because everyone has been unusually good to me in that respect by sending letters, clippings and other things that have made me feel close to home even though I am far away. Therefore, for the letters I have received (and not been able to answer) I thank each one very gratefully and apologize for not answering. There are two reasons for this: I have been very busy and there is the Censor.

WE are under very strict censorship here, and though I do not like it I realize that it is fair and it is necessary for purposes of security. The things that one can really write about freely are few. Most of what is interesting is usually censorable and, often, I have found myself writing a letter to the Censor instead of to the person for whom it is intended; but even with these difficulties we can still write a few things and send certain kinds of letters, so I am sending you this printed one to give you as much of a report as I can. It is my second Christmas overseas, believe it or not. I can hardly believe it.

TO go back to April, 1942: I realized then that to join the Army and do what I could in the war effort was what I ought to do and wanted to do, so I volunteered. Then things happened very fast. I got my orders in the return mail. I never knew I could terminate my work so quickly, and I regretted having to close my office, but I closed it and left in May of 1942 for Denver, Colorado, where I was assigned first to work at Fitzsimons General Hospital. After the usual introductory course to Army life and ways (they say there is the right way, the wrong way and the Army way), I was assigned to teach first-aid to enlisted men in the school for Medical Department Technicians. I found this work very interesting (although elemental) because the men were so sincere and appreciative in their efforts to learn and to do their part. These men were training to go where nurses could not go, to take the place of nurses. They studied hard and learned their lessons. We graduated large numbers of them each month for six months, and now I run into them everywhere I go, and am gratified to find that they are doing their work satisfactorily. The soldiers call them "Medics" and depend on them a great deal.

IN October, 1942, I had a real thrill when I received orders to join the 39th General Hospital as Chief of the Neuropsychiatric Section, and go overseas. I went to a Port of Embarkation and met the unit there. After a short period of organization and further training we left on what was one of the most interesting "pilgrimages" I have ever undertaken. It reminded me of "Canterbury Tales" in some ways. Everyone was there. It was slow, it was exciting and it lasted quite a while; but I learned a lot I had not known before: What a great extent of the earth's surface is trackless water, how to get along with King Neptune and his Minions, and many other things. Before it was over I felt like "The Ancient Mariner" and experienced many of the things Coleridge wrote about. We saw all the familiar stars drop below the horizon and new ones rise (I have not seen the Big Dipper or the North Star for over a year now) and we lost a day. I came to admire and appreciate our Navy as I never had before, and all sea-faring men, particularly the gallant Dutch. I came to realize what the fall of Java had meant to the world, and the Malay upheaval, and I came to appreciate and understand our blood- and language-related cousins "down under" in ways I had not known about before. And we saw whales and an albatross.

FINALLY that was over and a new era began. We bade good-bye to the "wooden walls" in which we had lived so long and started to think of new ones. The most touching thing I recall about it (now it is all over) was the highly original way a foreign band played "The Star Spangled Banner" for us as we arrived on what would have been about Thanksgiving

Day at home. It was a real thanksgiving day for us, to have come so far and to have arrived safely. They played the welcoming music in a tempo and manner all their own, but it was genuine and beautiful and brought tears to the eyes of most of us.

ALL I can say is that it was a most beautiful country. It looked as if Rockwell Kent had drawn it—the wild “bush,” the magnificent shore, the surf, the trees. It reminded me of Naples in one important aspect, and Norway, in some parts. Yet it was beautiful like Southern California. I have never seen any place more picturesque as far as scenery goes, and in every possible way they have done all they could to make us feel at home. I think it is fair to say that they have been as generous and thoughtful as anyone ever could be to strangers. They welcomed us with a sincere appreciation because many of them said “The Americans have saved us,” and they meant it. Other things about the country were interesting, too: its geography, the customs and the manners of its people. I was glad I had read the early short stories of Katherine Mansfield, for I saw much to remind me of her, as well as “Erewhon” by Samuel Butler.

FIRST we were put out to camp in the country where it looked like Middle Tennessee, or the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky. I have never seen finer herds of cattle, flocks of sheep or more intelligent farm dogs anywhere. The grass was lush and the flowers were blooming. This was in early summer—in December. We were in a very rough camp of wooden huts—no light but candles, no beds and no mattresses. We got straw and each man made his own bed. The food at first was very much like that of a lumber camp, but later everything got straightened out, including the food, which was plain but wholesome. Things got under way. We were all given work to do. Our hospital was not built, but soon that got started too. We had the unique opportunity of planning it in detail and seeing it grow, which of course took time.

DURING that time I managed to keep quite busy. I offered to work first at the large City Hospital (about like the Boston City Hospital) where I felt thoroughly at home. Then, as there was going to be a longer wait than we had expected, I volunteered to go anywhere I might be needed, and had the great good fortune of being put on “detached service” to work in a U. S. Naval Hospital “at an advanced South Pacific base.” I could not have found a more congenial or suitable place if it had been made to order. I enjoyed working with Navy doctors. They were most helpful and instructive. They were set up in time to receive many of the first men evacuated from the combat area, where the most exciting things had been going on—the places that you read most about in the papers last year. I saw a great many “shell-shock” cases (though that is not a good name for them—we prefer to call them “the handle and help them. We were extremely busy for several months, then things quieted down and I went back to my original outfit because our hospital was ready to open. Soon it did, and we got busy there. What I had learned in the Navy was a great help to me (also what I had learned at the Boston City Hospital and the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and in private practice at home). Things really “got hot,” as they say, and at times were “pretty rugged.” But we were fortunate in having good equipment, excellent nurses, and a fine staff. I have felt very grateful over having the opportunity to work with doctors of the Yale Unit, most of whom have had teaching experience in their Medical School. Some of them I had known before, and one of them (Lt.-Col. James C. Fox Jr., of New Haven) I had known for years. It has been a pleasure to come to know all of them. I have found their methods and viewpoints very close to those of the Harvard doctors in Boston.

THE neuropsychiatric section of this hospital is large (a substantial fraction of the whole hospital) and it is always filling and emptying. There is plenty of work to do, but I am for- MacLean and Lieutenant David Crocker (who is from Fitchburg, Massachusetts), and we serve as ward attendants and in other capacities. Generally speaking, we have a set-up that is comparable in many ways to the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, with about the same for certain differences secondary to structure of semi-permanent nature and a few other points. Even with these differences the place seems ominously permanent to me at times.

I HAVE not had a chance to write much, but it has been possible to keep a few short-hand notes of things that interest me from which I hope some day to write a book, the inevitable cathartic book everyone day-dreams of writing. In my spare time, after working hours (we neuroses of war, describing the patients we have treated and our methods of treating them. deal about this particular group that may be of special interest to persons who will be concerned with mental health problems in the post-war period. The complaints of these men, their family background and past history are all significant, in addition to what they have experienced in combat in the tropics. I find, for example, that most of the ones who break down have not been in combat and were always nervous or emotionally unstable, or come from families of that type. Our methods of treating these patients and the results of treatment will be described when we have time and an opportunity to do so. At the present time we are so busy doing the “actual” work (and the “paper” work) that all I can really do now (short-handed as I am) is to do the most I can and with what I have and hope for the best. The work has to come first and other things afterwards, if there is time.

OCCASIONALLY I find a few minutes for writing sonnets, but they are usually not about the war. It has been possible for me to learn more about sea shells at their source. The shells here are unusually fine. I have had the good fortune to meet a world authority on sea shells who is also curator of the local museum. He lets me bring my patients in large groups to the museum, and I take them also to the zoo regularly as part of treatment. I also take them swimming and to the beach. The patients enjoy this, and I think it does them good for a change. I am using occupational therapy for the patients in the hospital in the mornings (basket work, leather work, shell work and other crafts) and trips and various diversions in the afternoons for patients who are able to go out. I try at all times to keep the patients quiet, busy and happy. I find them very co-operative and appreciative.

I AM doing what I can along the line of group psychological treatment, using simple methods of suggestion, re-education and (occasionally) hypnosis. We depend a great deal on the sedative drugs, and find them very valuable, especially in helping the emotionally disturbed or tense, jittery patients to rest and sleep. Most of the patients begin to sleep normally about a week or ten days after they reach the hospital from the combat zone. The soldiers behave very well here. We have very few disciplinary problems, and alcoholism is no problem at all, although alcoholic beverages are obtainable. Whatever else the war is making out “of our boys,” it is not making them alcoholics, in my opinion. This rather surprised me, as I half-way expected that being overseas with “the lid off,” we might have a drink moderately and enjoy themselves reasonably. To date we had had practically no cases of alcoholism out of a very large number of admissions. One reason for this is that the discipline is good and in general the morale is high. The chaplains are doing a fine job, and religious services are always well attended. The people of this country are particularly hospitable to American soldiers and are very glad to meet and entertain them. The men have all sorts of wholesome recreation and plenty of it—swimming, sailing, fishing, hunting (deer and wild pig) and just about everything else when they are on liberty or on leave. The deer are red deer and were imported many years ago from Japan. They grow bigger here, however, than they did in Japan. The pigs are just plain wild pigs. Horse racing is very popular. Everywhere the people are genuinely friendly and make the soldiers feel at home, and most of the men appreciate this and take advantage of the unique opportunities for rest and recreation this country affords. In fact, many of the men are learning things that may be valuable to them after the war; I know I am.

WE have had many exciting moments. We were delighted to have a visit from Mrs. Roosevelt. She was very charming and gracious and gave an inspiring talk. I have met many people I would never have met at home: the Queen of a South Pacific island, assembled Admirals and Generals, all grades and varieties of “gold braid” and “brass hats” (and a few stuffed shirts). As a result of my experience overseas I have gained a real contempt for “isolationism” and a renewed appreciation and understanding of teamwork and the men and women of goodwill who work together for a common cause. Also, I feel deeper admiration for our soldiers and sailors who fight and die, the ones who will never return—who “carry back bright to the Maker the mintage of man,” as Housman called them: “The lads who die