368 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



the key to the nature of life itself and possibly the key to the cancer 

 problem. Despite their small size the viruses represent a potential 

 source of information which may be far more important for mankind 

 than the atom bomb or nuclear energy. Good health is essential for 

 the full enjoyment of the blessings of a seemingly boundless source 

 of energy, and mankind cannot have good health as long as certain 

 virus diseases and cancer continue to exist. If we can but discover 

 the secrets carried within the virus structures we will have gone a 

 long way toward making the world a better place in which to live. It 

 may appear amazing that Nature selected the borderline between the 

 living and the nonliving worlds to house secrets of such great impor- 

 tance, yet sober reflection will reveal the wisdom, if not the necessity, 

 for this course of action. Keal properties of matter are but reflections 

 of the degre of organization within, or the structure of, matter. The 

 viruses, bridging the gap between organisms and molecules, have just 

 that degree of organization or chemical structure which is necessary 

 to provide for an expression of certain necessary properties, part of 

 which lie in the world generally regarded as nonliving. Certainly 

 some viruses are single molecules, and the nature of the chemical struc- 

 ture characteristic of such virus molecules is a challenging problem 

 for the chemist. Some viruses appear to consist of many molecules 

 interacting in some special manner, and the elucidation of this inter- 

 action also represents a challenging problem. However, as yet there 

 appears to be no clear line of division, and it is still possible to agree 

 with Aristotle's suggestion of more than 2,000 years ago that Nature 

 has made so gradual a transition from the living to the nonliving 

 world that the boundary line between the two is doubtful and perhan^ 

 nonexistent. 



