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Abstract
Two important aspects of the lens research are reviewed: the morphology and the physiologic chemistry. In this last part the scope of the study is limited to cations, carbohydrates, nucleotides, nucleic acids, and proteins. A great number of gaps have still to be filled in these fields, and even more in the study of the pathogenesis of the different forms of cataract. Our objective for the next time should be to increase the certitudes. After this first step at least three directions of research can be foreseen: the chemists will penetrate deeper into the knowledge of cytochemical mechanisms, determine the cause of metabolic deficiencies, and localize the anomalies of the enzyme synthesis. The geneticists knowing the biochemical nature of the genes will apply the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis to the great problem of the hereditary cataracts. The morphologists loill establish the basic reactions of the protein molecules in the normal and abnormal lens.