34 Spikazines 



chemical explanation of all phases of vital activ- 

 ity will soon be forthcoming. 



Evidence of direct connections between the 

 amino groups of one spiral and the carbonyl 

 groups of an adjacent spiral is furnished by the 

 urea and guanidine groups which occur in the 

 pyrimidine and purine derivatives and in argi- 

 nine and creatine respectively. When protoplas- 

 mic structures are subjected to severe stresses, as 

 must occur in the nuclear material during cell 

 division, we would expect the hexagonal compart- 

 ments to become flattened by lateral compression 

 in one direction or another so as to bring the 

 amino groups of one spiral directly against the 

 carbonyl groups of another spiral, whereupon the 

 amino hydrogen will combine with the carbonyl 

 oxygen to form water and leave the carbonyl car- 

 bon atom of one spiral connected directly to one 

 or two nitrogen atoms of an adjacent spiral as 

 illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Since the carbonyl 

 carbon atom is already connected to the nitrogen 

 atom immediately adjacent to it in the same 

 spiral, we will have produced in this manner 

 either the urea or the guanidine complexes which 

 occur so extensively in the products of both plant 

 and animal metabolism. A connection between 

 one carbon atom and two nitrogen atoms may 

 also occur at the positive end of a single spiral 



