194 GENETICS CONFERENCE 



chemical requirements and phage re- cultures by the use of sterile filtrates 



sistance have frequently been found, have been unsuccessful. 



These types can most reasonably be The fusion presumably occurs only 

 interpreted as instances of the assort- rarely, since in the cultures investi- 

 ment of genes in new combinations, gated only one cell in a million can be 

 In order that various genes may have classified as a recombination type. The 

 the opportunity to recombine, a cell hypothetical zygote has not been de- 

 fusion would be required. The only tected cytologically. 

 apparent alternative to this interpreta- These experiments imply the occur- 

 tion would be the occurrence in the rence of a sexual process in the bac- 

 medium of transforming factors ca- terium Escherichia coli; they will be 

 pable of inducing the mutations of reported in more detail elsewhere, 

 genes, bilaterally, both to and from This work was supported in part by 

 the wild condition. Attempts at the a grant from the Jane Coffin Childs 

 induction of transformations in single Memorial Fund for Medical Research. 



Genetic Effects of the Atomic Bombs in 

 Hiroshima and Nagasaki 



Genetics Conference, Committee on Atomic Casualties, 

 National Research Council 



Reprinted by publisher's permission from Sci- 

 ence, vol. 106, 1947, pp. 331-333. 



Up to this point, many of the papers that have been included have 

 already demojistrated their sigjiificance by the ways in which they 

 have affected the directions a?id aijiis of the field of ge?ietics. They 

 have created new problems, pointed out new pathways, and pro- 

 vided new methods that proved fruitful i?i genetic analysis and 

 understanding. Obviously, it is difficult to select such papers from 

 the literature of the past few years, because a certain amount of 

 time is always necessary to permit a paper to reveal its basic impor- 

 tance. 



This paper arid the one by Sturteva?it (p. 259) strongly indi- 

 cate the existence of still another aspect of genetics, the sigjiificance 

 of which lies in the relationship of man to mankind. The geneticist 

 has suddefily found hi?/iself in possession of infovDiation of the 

 utmost importance in our moder?i world, and at the saiJie time finds 

 himself pai?ifidly lacking in information most urgently needed for 



