tative chemical analysis this new nitrogen atom is in 

 every respect the equivalent of the nitrogen atom of 

 the nuclear theory, but in protein chemical structure 

 where we are concerned with the spatial positions of the 

 atoms, it leads to entirely different structural patterns. 



POLYPEPTIDE SPIRALS 



Prior to 1927 we knew nothing about protein chemical 

 structure which served in any way to clarify life proc- 

 esses. It appeared from the researches of Emil Fischer 

 and his collaborators that proteins consisted principally 

 of polypeptide chains or diketopiperazine rings, but 

 there was no suggestion as to how these were arranged 

 in space or how they were produced in the living organ- 

 ism. The prevailing opinion was that the chemical struc- 

 ture of living matter is so complex that its spontane- 

 ous formation by the fortuitous play of natural forces 

 could have occurred only once in eons, and that it would 

 be folly to attempt to produce such structure syntheti- 

 cally. These views have changed considerably since then. 

 It is now realized that the complex chemical structures 

 which must constitute the hereditary patterns of the 

 higher plants and animals have developed gradually in 

 the course of evolution, and probably do not occur in the 

 simplest unicellular organisms. Life in its broadest 

 and simplest aspects is nothing more than self-perpetu- 

 ation, and the mechanism that is necessary for this pur- 

 pose need not be any more complex than the ''self " that 

 is being perpetuated. As explained by the writer in his 

 1927 monograph Spiral Molecular Structures, The 

 Basis of Life, the method that nature uses in the per- 

 petuation of any hereditary pattern, whether simple or 

 complex, is probably nothing other than the obvious 

 geometric scheme of confining the pattern to two dimen- 

 sions of space, so as to leave the third dimension avail- 

 able for the perpetuation of this pattern. In fact, it is 



