Letter from Josiah Quincy to Francis Sales, 1835 October 12

Brief one-page handwritten letter to Francis Sales from Harvard President Josiah Quincy that accompanied the diploma for Sales's honorary master's degree.

Letter from Francis Sales, 1848 March 30

Handwritten copy of a brief letter in French presumably to Francois Arago congratulating him on his appointment in the French Provisional Government following the 1848 Revolution and the formation of the French Second Republic. Both Arago and Sales were from the Pyrénées-Orientales region of France.

Letter from Francis Sales to Dominique-Francois Arago, 1849 October 1

Three-and-a-half page handwritten copy of a letter in French from Francis Sales to Francois Arago on two folio-sized leaves. The letter begins with a short sketch of Sales's life and appears to be written to Arago in relation to his role as a political leader in the French Republic.

Letter from James Walker to Francis Sales, 1852 January 30

One-page handwritten letter from James Walker, in his capacity as a member of the Harvard Corporation, responding to Sales's letter of resignation due to health problems.

Autobiographical sketch of Francis Sales, 1853

Three-page handwritten draft of a biographical sketch of Francis Sales from his birth to immediately following his arrival in the United States. There is a penciled note on the last page: "Life of my father written by himself in 1853" presumably written by Mary Catherine Sales.

Copy of the Corporation vote regarding the death of Francis Sales, 1854 February 25

One-page handwritten copy of the Harvard Corporation vote of condolence following the death of Francis Sales.

Letter: to Francis Nicholson, [17--]

Letter, undated, from committee of eight members of the Church of England in Boston, John Barnes, Thomas Greaves, Anthony Blount, John Gibbins, George Cradock, Thomas Selbey and two others, appealing to Nicholson to help support the founding and building of Christ Church.

Receipt book of Francis Kittredge, 1780

Contains instructions for preparing and administering medicine for adults and children, and generalized uses for certain ingredients, written by Dr. Francis Kittredge. Preparations include ointment for scurvy, bone ointment, nerve ointments, procedures to soothe a sore mouth and to stop excessive bleeding, and treatment to kill worms. The materials used to prepare bone ointment include fresh butter, hog fat, chamomile, garlic, and night shade, among other ingredients. The recipe for “simple nerve ointment” instructs the preparer to simmer half a pint of neet foot oil, a pint of rum, and one jell of oil of turpentine over a “gentle fire.” Kittredge writes that oil of St. John’s Wort is effective in treating swelling of the legs, for cold and aches, and for burning and scalds, while oil of Elderflower is indicated for belly aches. The manuscript is housed in a binding created by the Harvard Medical School library. Tipped into the binding is one letter from Frederick O. West, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, that accompanied his donation of the Kittredge receipt book to the library in 1919. There is also one letter of unknown provenance enclosed with the receipt book, which contains an inventory of the estate of Antipas Brigham, of Grafton, Massachusetts, signed by Worcester County Judge Joseph Wilder on 7 November 1749. It is unclear if this letter has any connection to Frederick O. West or Francis Kittredge.

Long-Term Clinical and Imaging Follow-Up After Reinforced Pulmonary Autograft Ross Procedure.

The Ross operation remains a controversially discussed procedure when performed in the full root technique because concern exists regarding late dilatation of the pulmonary autograft and regurgitation of the neo-aortic valve. In 2008, we published our short-term experience when using external reinforcement of the autograft, which was inserted into a prosthetic Dacron graft. This detail was thought to prevent neoaortic root dilatation. Since 2006, 22 adult patients have undergone a Ross procedure using this technique. Indications were aortic regurgitation (n = 2), aortic stenosis (n = 15), and combined aortic stenosis and insufficiency (n = 5). A bicuspid aortic valve was present in 10 patients. Prior balloon valvuloplasty had been performed in seven patients. No early or late deaths occurred in this small series. One patient required aortic valve replacement early postoperatively, but freedom from late reoperation is 100% in the 21 remaining patients. Echocardiography confirmed the absence of more than trivial aortic insufficiency in 15 patients after a mean of 70 months (range, 14 to 108 months). No autograft dilatation was observed during follow-up and all patients are in New York Heart Association Class I. Autograft reinforcement is a simple and reproducible technical adjunct that may be especially useful in situations known for late autograft dilatation, namely, bicuspid aortic valve, predominant aortic insufficiency, and ascending aortic enlargement. The mid- to long-term results are encouraging because no late aortic root enlargement has been observed and the autograft valve is well functioning in all cases.

Silicate and opal in the Ross Sea

Thirty-five box cores were collected from the continental shelf in the Ross Sea during cruises in January and February, 1983. Pb-210 and Pu-239, 240 geochronologies coupled with biogenic-silica measurements were used to calculate accumulation rates of biogenic silica. Sediment in the southern Ross Sea accumulates at rates ranging from <=0.6 to 2.7 mm/y, with the highest values occurring in the southwestern Ross Sea. Biogenic-silica content in surface sediments ranges from 2% (by weight) in Sulzberger Bay and the eastern Ross Sea to 41% in the southwestern Ross Sea. Biogenic-silica accumulation in the southwestern Ross Sea averages 2.7 * 10**-2 g/cm**2/y and is comparable to accumulation rates in high-productivity, upwelling environments from low-latitude continental margins (e.g., Gulf of California, coast of Peru). The total rate of biogenic-silica accumulation in the southern Ross Sea is approximately 0.2 * 10**14 g/y, with most of the accumulation occurring in basins (500-1000 m water depth). If biogenic-silica accumulation in the southern Ross Sea continental shelf is typical of other basins on the Antarctic continental shelf, as much as 1.2 * 10**14 g/y of silica could be accumulating in these deposits. Biogenic-silica accumulation on the Antarctic continental shelf may account for as much as a fourth of the dissolved silica supplied to the world ocean by rivers and hydrothermal vents.