SELECTED PAPERS 



tended to the appearance of a living cell? In essence this would not be 

 different from the evolution of the biologists which leads from single- 

 celled organisms to the most highly organized manifestation of life. 

 And could not then the various submicroscopic expressions of life rep- 

 resent different stages in this pre-cellular evolution? At the same time, 

 this would imply the existence of a continuous transition from the 

 simple nucleoprotein to the smallest unequivocally organized cell. 



Mr. President, ladies, and gentlemen ; the title of my discourse should 

 have been a warning to you. You have not been deterred by it, and 

 you have accompanied me in this exploration of life's fringes. Where 

 a clear view is wanting it is easy to get lost in meditations ; but after 

 returning home the memories are quickly superseded by impressions 

 that are more distinct and provide greater satisfaction. 



At the finish I should like to make another remark. Toward the 

 end I may for a moment have evoked the notion that after many 

 years, when the mists shall have become rarefied, the concept may 

 have found acceptance that there is a continuity from inanimate to 

 living matter. But please do not be misled into believing that I have 

 lost sight of the fact that nowadays prominent biologists believe that 

 the essence of life should be sought in the very pattern of its proclivities 

 which cannot be explained on the basis of a mere causality. But it is 

 possible, I believe, that a closer investigation of submicroscopic life 

 will reveal similar tendencies in a more elementary form also in this 

 realm, just as these are known in modern atomic physics. In conse- 

 quence we might paraphrase the adage, 'Go to the ants, thou sluggard' 

 by the admonition, 'Study the virus, thou theoretical biologist!' 



And finally : in all of us lives a profound awareness of the unfath- 

 omableness of life's enigma. Nevertheless, it seems justifiable to raise 

 the question whether this is irreconcilable with the concept of a spon- 

 taneous transition from inanimate matter to life, and a corresponding- 

 ly unifying evolution to its higher forms. Does it mean that we min- 

 imize the miracle of life if we let it merge with the miracle of creation 

 itself? Or, conversely, might not the miracle of life's origin be thus 

 freed from the limitation which part of humanity attaches to it, viz., 

 the limitation of its belonging to the past, rather than to the present, 

 the future, eternity? 



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