11 



by direct union between the — CO — groups at the end of 

 the spiral and the — NH — groups of the newly formed 

 diketopiperazine ring. The two hydrogen atoms of the 

 imide groups of the newly formed diketopiperazine ring- 

 will probably be taken over by the oxygen atoms at the 

 end of the spiral so as to form hydroxyl groups, which 

 will leave the nitrogen atoms of the diketopiperazine ring 

 free to combine with the hydroxylated carbon atoms at 

 the free end of the spiral. After assimilation of each new 

 diketopiperazine ring, the configuration of atoms at the 

 end of the spiral will be the same as it was before, the 

 spiral having been merely increased in length. 



The theory that life is a magnetic phenomenon is quite 

 old, but w^e had no experimental verification of this theory 

 until 19'35 when W. D. Francis of the Botanic Gardens in 

 Brisbane, Australia, published his pamphlet on Iron as 

 THE Original Basis of Protoplasm — The Generation op 

 Life in Space and Time. For many years Francis has 

 been conducting experiments on the synthesis of proteins 

 by means of metallic iron in the presence of inorganic 

 salts and atmospheric carbon dioxide, but in 1935 he dis- 

 covered that the ferrous hydroxide which was produced 

 in his experiments was definitely magnetic. He there- 

 fore concluded that 



In view of the ultimate origin of protoplasm in 

 iron it is quite likely that magnetic properties per- 

 form a much more prominent part in life processes 

 than is realized at present, (p. 10.) 



Two subsequent pamphlets were published by Francis 

 in 1936 and 1937 in which he presented additional obser- 

 vations on the magnetic properties of ferrous hydroxide 

 and the iron bacterium Leptothrix. He also found evi- 

 dence of a spiral structure in the protoplasmic materials 

 under observation, and in a recent communication to the 

 writer he stated that 



