Quantum Statistical Mechanics in the Natural Sciences : A Volume Dedicated to Lars Onsager on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday

leagues and, in many cases, students, of Professor Onsager. Professor Onsager, himself, has contributed a paper on Illife in early times" to the volume. Among the topics discussed are some interesting applications of low temperature experimental techniques to cardiology and astrophysics. We would like to express our particular appreciation to Mrs. Helga Billings and Miss Sara Lesser for their excellent typing of these Proceedings and to Mrs. Jacquelyn Zagursky, as well as to Mrs. Billings and Miss Lesser for their invaluable assistance with the details of the conference and the publication of these Proceedings. The Editors CONTENTS Section One BIOLOGY Life in the Early Days Lars Onsager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Fluctuating Enzyme Giorgio Careri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Diffusion Control in Biochemical Reactions Manfred Eigen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Phase Transitions of Phospholipids Julian Sturtevant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Theory and Density Measurements of the Lipid Bilayer Phase Transition John F. Nagle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Stability of Helical Nucleic Acids Neville R. Kallenbach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Thermodynamic Perspectives and the Origin of Life Sidney W. Fox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Section Two STATISTICAL MECHANICS High Frequency Dielectric Response in Dipolar Systems Roberto Lobo, John E. Robinson, Sergio Rodriguez. 143 ix x CONTENTS Exact Derivation of the Onsager Limiting Law Thomas J. Murphy 157 The Effect of Wall Charge on the Capillary Rise of Electrolytes Lars Onsager, Edmund Drauglis 167 Density of States of Topologically Disordered Amorphous Semiconductors Jill C. Bonner, J. F. Nagle 201 Irreversibility Willis E. Lamb, Jr. 213 Surface Specific Heat of Crystals.