MOLECULAR MORPHOLOGY 



51 



physical and chemical techniques mentioned. An attempt to show the 

 state of our knowledge, or perhaps our ignorance, is presented in 

 Figure i. The individual rectangles represent eight methods of studying 



KERATIM 



HY03IN 



riBRINOOEH- 

 FIBRIN 



TOBACCO MOSAIC COLLAOEN 

 VIRUS PROTEIN 



ELA3TIN 



SILK 



INSULIN 

 riBSRS 



8TR0MAIIN 



ACTIN 



PARAMYOSIR 



NEURONIN 



NEURO- 

 KERATIN 



l_a. 



CHRONOaOMS 

 PROTEIN 



RETINAL ROD 

 PROTEIN 



Figure i. Rough appraisal of experimental data available on physical and chemical 

 properties of fibrous proteins. The eight rectangles, each characteristically shaded, 

 represent from left to right : amino acid analysis, x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, 

 polarized light microscopy, streaming double refraction, viscosity, diffusion and ultra- 

 centrifuge analysis. The height of each rectangle represents the relative amount of 

 work published on the application of this method to the protein in question. Since this 

 chart was prepared important new results have been published, particularly in the case 

 of actin, myosin, and the actomyosin complex. 



molecular structure. The height of each rectangle reflects the relative 

 amount of work which, to the author's knowledge, has been reported on 

 the subject. Of course, the mere fact that much work may have been 

 done on a subject does not necessarily mean that crucial conclusions have 

 been reached. 



The figure is admittedly very rough, but the many gaps in our 

 knowledge are obvious. There must be concentration both on breadth 

 and depth. As more proteins are investigated the comparative aspect 



