



Ja^x 



^ 



\. 



The only other possi bil i ti 3S are rectangular and 

 triangular cacapartments , but the existence of these 

 appears highly improbahx e, except at the surfac:-'S, 

 "because they would reo^uire the coupling tog:ther 

 of four and six spirals respectively, which appears 

 to Toe irnpossihle of accornpl ishment with any knov-n 

 type of raolecular structure. 



A cluster of three polypeptide spirals 

 with a complete triple junction at the center 

 ought to possess all th^ fundamental characteristics 

 of life, provided it can he equipped with a stable 

 outer structure. A group of three hexagonal com- 

 partments as illustrated above could probably not 

 exist in nature because each compartment would 

 have thr3e exposed outer corners which would render 

 it very vulnerable. Regardless of how--;' -many 

 additional hexagonal compartments we add to this 

 structure, the maximum number of exposed corners 

 can never be less than two. But at the surface 

 of the organism there is no real necessity for 

 confining ourselves to the use of hexagons. 

 If, for example, v/e foim the surface structure of 

 pentagons instead of hexagons, the number of ex- 

 posed corners on each compartment would be reduced 

 to one, and our organism will appear in cross 

 section somewhat as follows: 



