edge closer together. "It was an 
important fusion," says Stetten. By 
that time, electron-microscopic tech- 
niques had been refined. When the 
microscopists discovered that the 
biochemists' particles matched what 
they had been seeing under their 
microscopes, and the biochemists 
learned that the microscopists could 
actually see what they had been 
analyzing, there was great rejoicing 
on both sides. 
As the microscopists and biochem- 
ists began to communicate, there 
was an avalanche of discoveries 
about the world within the cells of 
animals and plants. A whole new 
vocabulary had to be developed for 
the cellular structures that the electron 
microscope and ultracentrifuge 
uncovered. Now, after 40 years of 
painstaking investigation, cell biolo- 
gists have defined many of the gen- 
eral characteristics that cells share, 
and have discerned the mechanisms 
that cells use to make enzymes and 
other vital molecules. 
17 
