Bayliss's letters show an ongoing dialogue between him and Morley Roberts on topics in human physiology, especially concerning the phenomenon of inhibition (in the context of the heart, the intestines) and in relation to that, Roberts's conception of shock. The letters begin with a reference to Roberts having written in response to Bayliss's book, presumably Principles of general physiology. Roberts regularly sent Bayliss copies of his scientific essays, including his book Warfare in the human body. Bayliss engages in detailed discussions about the questions raised; his responses include reflection on Roberts's use of certain analogies, or metaphors in his argumentation. Bayliss expresses appreciation that Roberts sets the work on specialized problems into a wider scientific context (25 September 1920). References made to the work of other scientists include Paul Ehrlich, H. R. Dean, J. George Adami, and W. Langdon-Brown. The exchanges are mostly limited to scientific questions, but with some personal touches. In response to Roberts's sending him a copy of his book of poems War lyrics, Bayliss demurs that he is no judge of poetry but comments that he liked some of them (18 October 1918). Letters occasionally have pencil annotations by Roberts; and the following pencil notes by him are found on versos: a stricken passage that refers to Goethe and Schiller (21 December 1917); and an itemized list, including titles of articles, which is possibly a draft list of chapters for the above mentioned book (27 April 1918).
