ThD r:-som^lanco in g3noral shape and form 

 of a polyp optide spiral tc a baci]ljis will bs 

 apparent. It will "be capable of grovjtng endv/ise 

 by condensation with additional amino acid mol 2- 

 cul es, and will poscess definite morphology. 

 It must r3Tnain p3rmanently right-handed or left- 

 handed, v'hich would appear to account for the 

 optical activity always exhibited by substances 

 obtained from living organisms. It would also be 

 capabl e of acquiring various arrays of side chains 

 upon being nourished with different kinds of amino 

 acids, and thus exhibit the characteristic of 

 variability. It would not, howev2r, be capable, 

 upon division, of transmitting to its progeny 

 any permanently inheritable variations, and could 

 thorefore not be regarded as a complete living 

 organism. 



The smallest living bacillus is about a 

 thousand times largsr than an individual poly- 

 peptide spiral, and very likely consists of large 

 numbers of such spirals in pp.rallel formation, 

 eith 3r as a solid rod or as a hollow cylinder. 

 The complex side chains represented by the R's 

 in the above diagram evidently furnish the moans 

 for connecting together adjacent spirals. The 

 arrangement and spacing of the diffsrent spirals 

 will be subject to a certain amount of variation, 

 depending on the nature of the molecular complexes 

 v/hich connect them, but whatever the arrangement is, 

 it must necessp.rily be maintained throughout growth, 

 and will, upon division, be transmitted to the 

 progeny oy a process of heredity. 



It appears that thare are only a limited 

 number of ways in which adjacent spirals can be 

 connected together. We may, for example, connect 

 together two adjacent spirals edge to edg3 so as 

 to form a flat sheet, but this arrangem. ent cannot 

 occur very extensively in nature because pro to - 

 plasm.ic substances are usually three dim3nsional. 



