AMPHISBAENA 177 



o: 



And the feeling to be a pioneer at no extra cost. And how the 

 publishers love these new handles by which to extract the old 

 money. In fact, this is not the end: soon we shall have molecular 

 sociology, molecular history, and a little later perhaps molecular 

 theology. The fragmentation of the sciences proceeds via adjec- 

 tives. 



y: 



I believe, even among your age group you are a horrible excep- 

 tion. 



o: 



Very likely. In a time in which everything that is new is true, 

 the older the fogy the more he must galvanize himself into being 

 able to participate in the exuberant initiation dances that greet 

 each new molecule before it is replaced by an even newer one. 

 But I must say, you can't escape senility by trying to become a 

 juvenile delinquent. 



y: 

 I shall ignore this. What I said a moment ago about the advan- 

 tages of having a new science was not meant satirically. This is 

 the way sciences grow in our day; they have become a mass 

 movement, a corporation in which the majority of the population 

 carry stock. Their development must be studied by the methods 

 of sociology. 



o: 



Another stew of a science. 



y: 

 Let's slaughter one at a time. To return to our subject — if we 

 still have one — ^this is, I believe, the way our new science came 

 about. It started with the recognition of the importance of 

 macromolecules in biology, of their chemically distinct and pre- 



