viii translator's preface 



M. V. Tracey who read the proofs. My technical and ter- 

 minological advisers are in no way responsible for the views 

 expressed in the book. I hope their, perhaps unconscious, 

 attempts to use it as a platform for their own scientific views 

 have not distracted me from an accurate presentation of 

 Professor Oparin's ideas. He has, in any case, checked the 

 translation in detail from beginning to end. 



The following illustrations are reproduced by courtesy of 

 the authors and publishers cited: nos. 4 and 5, McGraw-Hill 

 Book Co. Inc.; no. 10, the Director of Lund Observatory, on 

 behalf of the late Dr. W. Gyllenberg; no. 20, Prof. Linus 

 Pauling and the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.; 

 nos. 23 and 24, Prof. G. Schramm and the Editors of Nature; 

 no. 25, Dr. F. H. C. Crick and the Editors of Nature; no. 26, 

 the Publisher of The Scientific American; nos. 31 and 32, the 

 Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology ; no. 34, Dr. M. 

 Yeas and the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.; 

 no. 35, the Springer-Verlag, Vienna; nos. 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 

 and 44, the Academic Press Inc. 



My thanks are due to all those I have mentioned and to 

 my teacher, Mrs. Vera Raitt, who has helped me in my 

 struggles with the Russian language, as well as to many others 

 who have helped with typing, illustrations, references and 

 other matters, not forgetting the publishers, Messrs. Oliver 

 and Boyd, who have made strenuous efforts to get the book 

 out in time for the first international Symposium on the 

 Origin of Life, organised by the Academy of Sciences of the 

 U.S.S.R. under the auspices of the International Union of 

 Biochemistry. 



Ann Synge 

 Aberdeen, 

 April 1957. 



