Viruses and Life
MR. GEOFFREY SAMUEL states in NATURE of Jan. 11, p. 51, that he has difficulty in distinguishing the suppositions vitamol and virus. Virus connotes a something of unknown constitution that can pass through filters and that causes specific disease. Vitamol is supposed to be of molecular structure with attributes of life, and might be parasitic or symbiotic or lead an independent existence. In the study of the viruses the methods of the biologist seem to have reached their limit, and the concept and the word were offered in the hope of attracting the attention of physicists who might be able to cast a ray of light on the matter.