116 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



not here be described. If it be supposed 

 that this group, called amidogen, takes the 

 place of the hydrogen atom at the extreme 

 left in the formula of the acid shown above, 

 then the formula becomes : — 



H H H H H H H 



I I I I I I I ^ 



N _c-c-c-c-c-c=o 



I I I I I I 



H H H H H H 



By means of this quite simple formula, the 

 structure of the proteins can readily be 

 explained, and also many of their peculiar 

 properties which enable them to play their 

 part in the phenomena of life. 



Ammonia, as every one knows, is a strong 

 base which neutralizes acids, and if it had 

 merely gone into the acid group at the other 

 end it would simply have neutralized the 

 acid. But now the acid group is there intact, 

 and at the same time at the other end there 

 is a molecule introduced, the amidogen, or 

 H— N— H, which confers alkaline or basic 

 properties. Here, then, is a new kind of 

 body, which is acid in one part and basic in 

 another, and with neither property neutralized. 



The molecule has taken on a kind of 

 chemical polarity, or duality, like a magnet. 



