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March 27, 1963

Dear Mrs. Fuhr:

I wish I could plant a kiss on your forehead: not just for your achievement in bringing from Cairo a sample of wood that was found in Tutenkhamen tomb, but even more so for the eagerness and the sense of responsibility with which you pursued tile task and which were evident from your letters.

Miss Elizabeth Ralph left during last week or the one before for Rome and I understand that she will have work and rest there. . .It is only on August 1st that Ralph will resume the work in the Lab of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. I will write to Mr. Robert Stuckenrath, her assistant, and inquire how we should proceed with the sample and whether tests will be made in Ralph’s absence,

In no case would I like to have the wood sent to me. Since I am an interested party, I must be left out of contact with the sample. In the meantime, please, keep it well protected from contamination, which is understood. . .

I feel that you and your husband enjoyed very much the visit to Cairo and that your interest in Egyptology prepared you to view the monuments intelligently, always with a set of two time-tables in your mind. Thanks again!

  Cordially yours,
  Immanuel Velikovsky

P.S. I have thought of a piece of mummy or of a piece of linen: the latter is usually of recent origin and is derived from a one-year plant; wood can be of an old tree, and the lumber could have been reused, because of the scarcity of trees in Egypt. Lebanon cedars are very old trees. But after having had a start with Dr. Iskander lie may be helpful also in the future. The time of Tutenkhamen is certainly affected by an error of chronology and in my estimate instead of -1350 we should expect -820, before a correction due to the age of the tree. In the case of Ramses III we are much closer to our time (in my estimate the first half of the fourth century-an alterego of Nectanebo 1), and the difference, besides, is almost 800 years between the two schemes. Also my next book will deal with Ramses III. On the other hand, the reading public heard more of Tutenkhamen.

I.V.