140 



material presented in this book pleads for the assumption that 

 water is more than this: it is part and parcel of the living matter 

 itself. One of the main functions of protoplasmic structures may 

 be to generate in water those specific structures which make forms 

 of electronic excitations and energy transmissions possible which 

 would be improbable outside these structures. The solid matter 

 and the water of the cell form together that unique system which 

 has the queer property of being alive. 



I have no doubts that the coming century will witness a pro- 

 found revolution, extension of biology, the establishment of a 

 quantum mechanical biochemistry, built on top of the Lucretian 

 one. This book may be but one of the early swallows of this 

 spring. 



The biologist, venturing into this new field, can do so only at 

 the danger of errors, many of his interpretations being found at 

 fault later. He can only hope that through the door, left ajar, 

 researchers will follow him who are more qualified to deal with 

 quantum mechanical problems and find him at fault at many 

 points. His only reward will be the fleeting glance he could throw 

 at a future biochemistry, from the elevation of which the letter- 

 dash-letter symbols will look like skeletons which can tell us no 

 more about the real nature of life than the fossil bones of a dino- 

 saurus can tell us about that animal's reflexes or sexual relations. 



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