The high point in Chargaff’s scorn came when he led Francis into admitting that he did not remember the chemical differences among the four bases. The faux pas slipped out when Francis mentioned Griffith’s calculations. Not remembering which of the bases had amino groups, he could not qualitatively describe the quantum-mechanical argument until he asked Chargaff to write out their formulae. Francis’s subsequent retort that he could always look them up got nowhere in persuading Chargaff that we knew where we were going or how to get there.
