From Dr I. O. I. Davies, MRPharmS
SIR,—I would be pleased if you would kindly permit me to correct the statement that Professor James Watson was a co-discoverer of DNA (PJ, January 8, p69) before it is perpetuated.
Nucleic acid was first recognised as a distinct constituent of living matter in 1868 by Friedrich Meischer during the latter years of the 19th century. Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel prize for proposing a molecular model for the conformation of DNA.
Iolo Davies
Ballygowan, Co Down