AMPHISBAENA 195 



RNA show complete base-pairing? Besides, from the chemical 

 point of view, there does not seem to be anything special about 

 the RNA of viruses. Incidentally, since in this reasoning all roles 

 are reversed, I expect to hear almost any day about a "messenger 

 DNA". 



y: 

 I have an alternative answer. Let us assume that all RNA, viral 

 as well as ribosomal, transfer or messenger, is made under the 

 control of DNA, but only in the case of messenger are both DNA 

 strands involved; the other RNA species reflect the composition 

 of a single strand of DNA. By now you must credit me with 

 enough intelligence to propose hundred plausible schemes to 

 explain this. 



o: 



I would not go so far; but for n problems you will always have 

 « + 1 mutually exclusive, but equally irrefutable, explanations. 



y: 

 Never mind. So far as virus RNA is concerned, a second as- 

 sumption must, of course, be made, namely, that for a cell to be 

 able to support a certain virus it must contain, as part of its 

 genome, a stretch of DNA that is normally non-operative, but 

 becomes active under the influence of the invading viral RNA 

 molecule; and it is this DNA portion that is reflected by the 

 infective RNA. 



o: 

 I feel like Peer Gynt in the cave of the trolls, refusing to undergo 

 a simple eye operation that would permit him to see as straight 

 what looks crooked to him. You, too, will undoubtedly grow into 

 one of our synthetic geniuses — these fake celebrities, glued 

 together with the spittle of Madison Avenue — of whom there are 

 so many that they clutter up the place. And yet, the brain power 

 of all these cytopractors combined would not fill the inkwell of 



