490 



Annals New York Academy of Sciences 



seen in figure 4. This figure also shows filamentous structures which arise 

 from proteinoid. 



In FrcuRE 5 are seen the effects of pressure on the microspheres. This seg- 

 mentation resulted from digital pressure on the coverglass. 



In FIGURE 6 are seen algal-like associations of microspheres. These were 

 produced by making them under a coverglass on the microscope slide. The 

 resemblance is to Auaboeiia or Xostocr^ We are indebted to Dr. Chester S. 

 Nielsen for aid in verifying the superficial, albeit incomplete, resemblance. 

 The resemblance of alleged fossils of this type is also imperfect. 



# 



U' 



Figure 2. Microspheres with double boundaries following increase in pH. Larger figures 

 are approximately 10 yu in length. 



The microspheres are also found to be birefringent, indicating internal order. 



When we review the results of almost a decade of experimental studies of 

 models of biochemical origins we can perceive: (1) amino acids have been pro- 

 duced by many workers under many laboratory conditions and from many 

 reactants that plausibly existed on or in the prebiological Earth; (2) in a 

 majority of such experimental reports, the key aspartic acid appears as a prod- 

 uct; (3) the polymerization of amino acids has now been accomplished in 

 hundreds of variations over a range of conditions; and (4) similarly, the forma- 

 tion of spherular forms has been accomplished in thousands of variations in the 

 laboratory. We now regard processes 3 and 4 as so rugged and so inexorable 

 as to believe that they could and should have occurred on many occasions 

 in many places in the universe. Also, the origin of the necessary amino acids 

 seems to be inexorable, by one process or another.-^ 



