GENERAL DISCUSSION 



Dickens: Before opening this general discussion in summary of 

 the symposium and on future research, I should like to take the 

 opportunity to put on record, on behalf of us all, our sincere grati- 

 tude to Sir Hans Krebs for conceiving the whole idea of this sym- 

 posium, and for ensuring, with the enthusiastic support of Dr. 

 Wolstenholme and his staff at the Ciba Foundation, that it would 

 be a great success, as I am sure we all feel it has been. 



At this stage I might mention the very high density of Nobel 

 laureates present which, even in the distinguished history of the 

 Ciba Foundation, must be exceptional. I calculate it to be ten per 

 cent of those present ! 



Among the prizes I should like to award, the first one would go 

 to Prof. Lehninger for what I believe to be an historic contribution 

 to the mechanism of oxidative phosphorylation. This is one of the 

 great things that have come out of this meeting. Also one to Prof. 

 Chance for solving 25 simultaneous equations and, what is more, 

 getting sense out of the answer. Dr. Hess tells me that the right 

 answer came up the very first time they did this, which must be a 

 remarkable feat. I am quite sure that this step marks a taking off 

 point on the journey into the future of biochemistry. 



Another goes to Prof. Lynen and Dr. Johnson, who simultaneously 

 in 1941 recognized with quite rare insight the vital importance of 

 intracellular inorganic phosphate in control of metabolism; and to 

 Dr. Siekevitz who showed us some beautiful electron micrograph 

 pictures, which he was careful to credit to Dr. Palade. His own 

 interpretation of these complex and fascinating diagrams gave us a 

 great deal of matter for thought, especially the possibility that the 

 enzymes and coenzymes can move about to different positions on the 

 endoplasmic reticulum under hormonal and other controls ; also the 

 fascinating possibility that the nucleus, because of its communica- 

 tion with the exterior, may be outside the cell instead of inside! 

 This is a thrilling possibility — that we are dealing with an extra- 

 cellular particle when we are dealing with the nucleus. 



In this connexion I would award a black mark to whoever is the 

 inventor of one of the ugliest words in the English language, namely 

 "compartmentalization." We should consider substituting "segre- 

 gation" or some similar word, if this is not thought to have some 

 less agreeable connotation. It must then be the keyword for this 

 symposium, since so much emphasis has been rightly placed on the 



CELL METAB.— 12 353 



