270 The Structure oj Protoplasyn 



the latter, I asked Dr. Mark, long collaborator with Professor Meyer, 

 to give me a sketch such as Professor Meyer would have made. 



Professor Meyer tells us that the "points" of contact between 

 fibers are not points but regions, that there are no free chains, and 

 that the chains are hydrated over much of their surface. In short, 

 a chain, or part of it, is either linked to other chains or to water. 

 Free chains do not occur owing to the high van der Waals' forces of 

 the — OH or — CONH groups. 



Editor's Second Note: 



It is an especial pleasure to close this Monograph with a word 

 from Professor Astbury. His letter gives a promise of something out- 

 standing in the very near future, for which we shall all wait with 

 interest. Even greater than the information he promises, is the 

 courage he displays in carrying on with good humor under the pres- 

 ent trying circumstances. The second from last sentence in Professor 

 Astbury's letter expresses the spirit in which every contributor to 

 this Monograph took part in the original Symposium. The sympa- 

 thetic cooperation which Professor Astbury exemplifies is the basis 

 of all that is worth-while in science. I am sure, too, that I express 

 the sentiments of our Society when I say in reply to the last sentence 

 in Professor Astbury's letter, that we, his colleagues in America, in 

 particular those in biology who have kept so closely in touch with 

 his work, send our gratitude for that which a good physical chemist 

 has done for biology, and our hope that he and his fellow scientists 

 will soon be able to carry on in a peaceful England. 



The following is Professor Astbury's communication: 



Dear Seifriz: 



I was delighted to hear from you again, for it is an even greater 

 pleasure than usual these days to receive letters from our American 

 friends. Quite apart from the fact that your continuous flow of 

 sympathy and help is tremendously heartening, you Americans have 

 the distinction of being just about the only correspondents we have 

 left now, outside our own Commonwealth! 



Your letter by Clipper Air Mail was five weeks under way. Does 

 this mean that the molecular structure of protoplasm is so terribly 

 important that weeks of censorship are necessary to make absolutely 

 certain that the enemy learns nothing about it? . . . The reprint 



