38 



0.1 yVl KG and stained with acridinc orange (10~^A[), showed 

 on illumination (at room temperature) the orange phosphores- 

 cence of the dye, while the dye seeping out of the muscle into the 

 underlying filter paper showed the usual yellowish green fluores- 

 cence. If the muscle was brought into contracture by freezing and 

 subsequent thawing, phosphorescence disappeared indicating a 

 collapse of the water structures. The great quantity of liquid 

 pressed out by such a muscle also indicated that the physical state 

 of water had undergone a profound change. Using 0.1 Af NaCl, 

 as suspension fluid instead of KG disfavored phosphorescence. 

 As will be shown later Na disturbs water structure. 



The study of water, in its relation to biological structures and 

 electronic excitation processes, opens a fascinating and promising 

 field of inquiry which may lead us far towards the understanding 

 of normal and pathological processes. In fact, these water struc- 

 tures suggest a new outlook on life itself. Hitherto, water was 

 looked upon, more or less, as a neutral medium, filling the space, 

 between the structural elements within the cell. In the outlook 

 developed in this chapter, water forms one single unique system 

 with structural elements in which electronic excitations become 

 possible which are highly improbable outside it. The protoplasmic 

 systems which generate these excitations also generate the watei 

 structures which are necessary for the production, and possibly 

 also for the propagation of these excitations. Biological functions 

 may actually consist of the building and destruction of water struc- 

 tures, water being part and parcel of the living machinery and not 

 merely its medium, the water structures and their interactions with 

 electronic excitations being intimately connected with the very 

 essence of the "living state." 



One of the most basic principles of biology is organization, 

 which means that two things put together in a specific way form a 

 new unit, a system, the properties of which are not additive and 

 cannot be described in terms of the properties of the constituents. 

 As points may be connected to letters, letters to words, words to 



