TENTH LITERATURE AWARD 535 Cosmetics are intended to adorn the superficies without altering the skin, preferably without even penetrating it. This avoids classification as a drug and staves off the pure persecutions of the F.D.A. In selecting world renowned scientists for this coveted prize, the Socxv. T¾ has strikingly answered the charge of concerning itself solely with the super- ficial business of beautification. On the contrary, it has admirably proved its respect and support of basic scientific work. It is altogether estimable, and probably not an act of chance, that the recipient of last year's prize, Dr. J. Gross, and this year's celebrant are eminent authorities in the field of macromolecular biology, a subject at the center of modern medicine and the very frontier where the pioneers are camped. How appropriate, in dealing with skin, for Dr. Gross to be honored for his collagen achievements and Mercer for his grand studies of keratin. It is collagen which provides the skin with its scaffolding and solidity, while keratin is the building stuff of the horny layer, a barrier which effectively seals the body off from its en- vironment. These two marvelous fibrous proteins, designed for tough service, form complementary systems which uniquely enable the skin to carry out its only known biological function, namely, of protection. Captivated by encomiastic enthusiasm, I should like to offer not one but two eulogies. My first is a citation of the Soc•v.T¾ for its admirable wish to recognize and honor investigators of great stature this activity cannot fail to stimulate basic research and promote knowledge of the skin. It cannot fail to bridge the chasm between study and practice. Lest there be any invidious sentiments that this citation to the Soc•v.•¾ is merely words unsupported by the substantiality of hard cash, it gives me pleasure to validate my effort by delivering into the hands of the president a genuine U.S.A. 1963 penny, a coin of such priceless value that no known object can be purchased with it. I am certain this will remain as a permanent trophy to symbolize recognition by the academic community of the achievements of the Sociv.•¾. Now to come to the man of the hour. Howard Mercer was born and bred in wooly Australia, still another demonstration that an unfavorable environment is not an obstacle to greatness. Having hosted him in my home for the week-end, one sees at once the qualities required for high per- formance: a spacious mind, a clear head and probing mentality, accom- panied by those other prerequisites for soaring achievements: disciplined creativity, a rugged individuality which is equally unaffected by approval and disapproval, an ambition to exalt the uses of the human mind, and the uncommon chemical capacity to mix inspiration with perspiration. Fi- nally, he has the willingness to be fatuously and permanently in love with the sirens of science. His past history reveals the basic ingredients which appear wit!• suc`h

536 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMET1C CHEMISTS regularity in the lives of those who elevate us all. He has insatiable curi- osity, will go anywhere, roam over diverse territories, migrate into what- ever field offers the prospect of exploring the wonders of the living universe. After taking his degree at Adelaide, a suitably named place for a scientific romance to start, he worked during the war on the problems of night vision. His search led him to the academic shrine at Leeds where he had the splen- did privilege of working with Astbury and Speakman. He took his Ph.D. so recently as 1949. He is obviously not sailing but flying through life. His argosy took him to Sweden and the United States where he tried to satisfy his passion in works on the structure and formation of fibers. True to his migratory instincts, he went to London and nested for a while at the Royal Cancer Hospital, where he seems to have been lured into a tentative marriage with the keratinizing cells of hair and nails. His roving eye has perhaps become domesticated by his interest in fiber forming cells of the skin and hair. In 1960 he was awarded a Doctor of Science by Adelaide University. Favorable tail winds brought him back to Australia in 1963, where he has since been located in organizing an electron microscope unit at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra. His scientific fertility is prodigious. He spawns finished works faster than fish can lay eggs. His scientific contributions are sufficiently numer- ous to be expressed logarithmically, well over a hundred at last counting. Like Lincoln, Mercer gets large ideas into an astonishingly small space. Like Newton, he can lie under a tree and make great discoveries by watch- ing so ordinary a thing as an apple fall. He has written three books. "Keratin and Keratinization" is his master- piece. The treasures in this book are precious and sanctified for all stu- dents of skin. Another work on "Cells and Cell Structure" is intended for High School students. His immense grasp, coupled with lucid literary skills, enables him to spread out in banquet form a large feast for those who have appetite but not necessarily sophisticated taste. His third book, entitled "Electron-Microscopy, a Handbook for Biologists," contains the technological secrets which have made him a master of the high arts of magnification. Like other large-minded members of the intellectual aristocracy, he is alive to the fascinations outside the laboratory. He is such an accom- plished sculptor that it takes constant moral effort not to quit science for the joys of the plastic art. Here, too, he works in new ways, as becomes a researcher. I have it in his own writing that he likes to eat, talk and walk, which are, to my knowledge, the only ordinary things he does. I presume other ordi- nary activities not included in his list would require too much time and energy or perhaps are too difficult to master for an intellectual. I will bear eyewitness to the fact that he doesn't drink. He says he gets