"sa courageuse attitude, son indépendance irréductible et son évasion retentissante en aéroplane d'une forteresse de Brandebourg..."

Autograph letter dated and signed by Romain Rolland to his friend the British writer and linguist Charles Kay Ogden, 35 lines in blue ink, notably concerning the great interest he professes for the German physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolaï whose work is too unjustly unrecognized in his eyes.
Fold inherent to postal mailing. A small tear in the right margin of the bifolium.
Romain Rolland addresses to Charles Kay Ogden his opuscule dedicated to a scientist he considers very important: "Je vous envoie, sous pli recommandé, une étude que j'ai publiée en Suisse sur le professeur G.F. Nicolaï et sur son oeuvre "La biologie de la guerre", - étude qui a été traduite en anglais par madame Hélène van Brugh..." ("I am sending you, by registered mail, a study I published in Switzerland on Professor G.F. Nicolaï and on his work 'The Biology of War', - a study which has been translated into English by Mrs. Hélène van Brugh...") and of which he also praises his action during the Great War: "Vous connaissez sans aucun doute le rôle que le dr Nicolaï, professeur de biologie à l'université de Berlin, a joué pendant la guerre, sa courageuse attitude, son indépendance irréductible et son évasion retentissante en aéroplane d'une forteresse de Brandebourg..." ("You undoubtedly know the role that Dr. Nicolaï, professor of biology at the University of Berlin, played during the war, his courageous attitude, his irreducible independence and his resounding escape by airplane from a Brandenburg fortress...")
As an ardent admirer of the scientist but also as an indefatigable advocate of Franco-German friendship, the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1915 campaigns for the recognition of the German physiologist's work: "J'ai essayé de faire reconnaître au public des autres pays, son caractère et sa pensée. Je serais heureux qu'elle pût intéresser les lecteurs du Cambridge magazine" ("I have tried to make his character and his thought recognized by the public of other countries. I would be happy if it could interest the readers of the Cambridge magazine") and for his translator of his writings into English as well: "Madame H. van Brugh, dont j'estime le talent, devrait être rémunérée pour son travail qui a été fait avec grand soin. Si vous acceptez l'article, je vous prierais d'en adresser le shonoraires à Mme H. van Brugh..." ("Mrs. H. van Brugh, whose talent I esteem, should be remunerated for her work which has been done with great care. If you accept the article, I would ask you to send the fees to Mrs. H. van Brugh...")