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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



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THIS BOOK is a complete translation of the text of the 

 third and completely revised edition of Professor 

 Oparin's book, although some of the illustrations have 

 been left out. The Russian and English editions should 

 appear more or less simultaneously. The first edition was 

 translated into English by Professor Sergius Morgulis and 

 was published under the title The origin of life by the 

 Macmillan Company (New York, 1938). It was reprinted by 

 Dover Publications Inc. (New York, 1953). 



I could not have undertaken this translation unaided and 

 have received much help from many sources. My husband 

 has helped at all stages. In particular, he has dealt with the 

 bibliogTaphy and checked the spelling of all proper names 

 which had to be transliterated from the Russian alphabet. 

 He writes: "Transliteration of Russian names is by the 

 system used in Chemical Abstracts (see annual author index). 

 Titles of periodicals have been abbreviated, in general, as 

 in the World list of scientific periodicals published in the 

 years ipoo-ip^o (London (Butterworth Scientific Publica- 

 tions), 1952). However, for most Russian journals the ab- 

 breviations are as in Chemical Abstracts (see indexes for 1951 

 and 1956) ; these will be found as good, or better, for tracing 

 the periodicals in the World list itself. Alternative trans- 

 literations of the names of authors are given in brackets where 

 this seems bibliographically helpful. Where the author cites 

 Russian review articles and books I would like to have 

 included supplementary references to works more accessible 

 to English readers, but circumstances have prevented me 

 from doing this in more than a few instances. In connection 

 with verifying the references I am grateful for their unstinted 

 help to many librarians, and especially to the staffs of the 

 Reid Library, Bucksburn, and of the Library of the Uni- 

 versity of Aberdeen." 



I have also received advice and help from Mr. N. W. Pirie, 

 who read the typescript, and from Dr. H. Lees and Mr. 



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