546 L. G. LAJTHA 



study of fundamental events in the cell; events which, in turn, may lead 

 to the understanding of the cellular mechanism of radiation effects. 



The scheme put forward in this chapter, in an attempt to explain radia- 

 tion effects on DNA synthesis, is merely a working hypothesis; experiments 

 to test its validity are in progress. However, as a commendable principle 

 it may be opportune here to quote for those engaged in this type of research 

 the concluding remarks of a review written in 1953, that ". . . no finding, 

 whether biochemical, physiological or pathological, be accepted as primarily 

 due to radiation unless it is established that it does not arise as a result of 

 some other or earlier lesion." 87 



« M. G. Ord and L. A. Stocken, Physiol. Revs. 33, 356 (1953). 



