The central dogma was put forward4 at a period when. much of what we now know in molecular genetics was not established. All we had to work on were certain frag mentary experimental results, themselves often rather uncertain and confused, and a bq_uudless optimjsm that the basic concepts involved were rather simple and
}JNbably much the same in all living things. In such a. situation well constructed theories can play a really useful
part in stating problems clearly and thus guid ing experi
ment.