186 AMPHISBAENA 



o: 



If I don't believe that the moon is made of green cheese, does 

 this necessarily mean that I don't believe in the moon? 



y: 



Anyway, DNA is the genetic material which in the last resort is 

 responsible for the maintenance and the transmission of the 

 hereditary properties of the cell. We know about the mechanism 

 of its replication which is an ingenious deduction from the 

 generally accepted structural model of DNA: a double helix 

 composed of two intertwined polynucleotide chains. After the 

 separation of these strands which is very easy to explain, as it 

 offers no thermodynamic difficulties and can be carried out with 

 a model costing less than a dollar, each strand now proceeds to 

 the production of its counterpart. 



o: 

 How general is general? And without wanting to offend your 

 sense of economy, thermodynamical or otherwise, may I ask 

 whether you mean this beautiful scheme to apply to meiosis as 

 well as to mitosis? 



y: 



I am not interested in diploids. 



o: 



I wish, your parents had felt the same way. And would you say 

 that during the splitting of a chromosome the other constituents, 

 the proteins, the lipids, undergo similar processes, or do they 

 simply follow the leader out of family affection? 



y: 

 Let's not waste our time with triviahties. Who cares about lipids 

 anyway? The smart cookies leave them alone. I shall give you 

 here a purely formal scheme which you can take or leave; but 

 you would be well advised to take it. 



