CHAPTER II 



THE ORIGIN AND MAINTENANCE OF OPTICAL AC- 

 TIVITY IN LIVING MATTER 



There are, in living matter, some components which con- 

 stantly prodnce optically active substances while other 

 components always racemize. The mechanism which in- 

 sures the constant production of asymmetric substances 

 needs an explanation. It is somewhat surprising that, for 

 a long time after optical asymmetry had been recognized 

 as a characteristic of some constituents of living matter, 

 the problem of the origin of this asymmetry and of the 

 maintenance of the optical purity of protoplasm was so 

 little investigated. 



1. The Transmission of the Asymmetric State hy Asym- 

 metric Synthesis. Before studying how the asymmetric 

 purity of the primary components of protoplasm is main- 

 tained, let us consider how the asymmetric state is trans- 

 mitted from one aggregate of molecules to another or, in 

 other words, how the asymmetry of protoplasm is "multi- 

 plied." To answer this question, Pasteur (1860) sug- 

 gested that every asymmetry owes its existence to some 

 asymmetric forces operating at the moment at wiiich the 

 asymmetry appeared. In this manner, one asymmetric 

 substance would bring into being another in the same way 

 as life produces life. The principle "Omne viviim ex 

 vivo" would be paralleled in the transmission of asym- 

 metry, 



Pierre Curie (1894) expressed the same fundamental 

 principle as follows: "If a phenomenon possesses a defi- 

 nite asymmetry, the same asymmetry can also be detected 

 in the causes which have given rise to the phenomenon." 

 Curie admits that a given asymmetry gives birth to an- 



