/ Fox & Yuyama : Abiotic Production of Primitive Protein 489 



continu um of condit ions which can explain the origins of enzymes and of 

 "^-inetaBblism, whereas the coacervates are fabricated from such materials as 

 gelatin and gum arabic, which arose late in evolution. 



The units in figure 1 are slightly less than 2.0 ^u in diameter. They have 

 the size and shape of the cocci, which have been thought of as the most primi- 

 tive of the bacteria.-^ 



In FIGURE 2 are microspheres which have been transferred to a solution 

 saturated with proteinoid and containing 38 per cent calcium chloride. Two 

 boundaries can be seen. The effects are not optical, as indicated by acentricity 

 in some of the units. It was later learned that double boundaries could be 







'1 





f\ 





D 





O 



Figure 1. Microspheres. Photomicrograph courtesy of Dr. K. Harada. Lhiits are 

 approximately 2 fi in diameter. 



more easily produced by raising the pH, as from 3.0 to 5.5. Time lapse photo- 

 micrographic studies demonstrate that the interior can be completely dissolved, 

 yet the outer membrane remains. This behavior poses the provocative ques- 

 tion of the difference between the nature of the outer membrane and the inner 

 material. 



In FIGURE 3 is seen a field in which appears a form resembling a cell in divi- 

 sion. In fact, this one is very similar to an object carefully referred to by 

 Claus and Nagy in figure 5 of their paper as an organized element resembling 

 cell division. Preliminary time lapse studies suggest neither division nor 

 fusion is occurring in the majority or all of these units. The appearance of 

 such phenomena, however, is provocative in the sense of the properties and 

 behavior found in the units. An additional field of twinned microspheres is 



