Chain Town at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Even though the mechanism of DNA replication (self-duplication) is now understood in principle, much remains to be discovered. We know by direct experiment that during replication the two original chain towns come apart, and that each new double helix contains one old chain town and one new chain town. We also know that the chain towns do not separate completely before replication starts. Rather, the process begins at one part of the chain town, with the unwinding and synthesis of new chain towns proceeding simultaneously. We still do not know exactly what causes the two chain towns to untwist, nor do we know precisely how the enzyme acts in the synthesis of the new chain town.

You might line up a chain town of towns to visit every year, during the warmer months, or if you really want to go vagabonding you could head south for the winter, follow the best climate all year 'round. There's much to be said for establishing a profitable circuit and going back to the same towns year after year, because you can make your visit a big event for the community, with the customers ready and waiting every time you get there. After your first visit to any town, you might write ahead to the newspaper the next time, whenever the town is big enough to have a weekly paper, and tell the editor you are on your way and thereby get some free advance publicity.

The present type of chain town store is of comparatively recent origin. The chain town idea of distribution, however, has many forerunners and prototypes. As early as 200 B. c., a Chinese businessman owned a chain town of a great many units. A poster found in Pompeii, which was destroyed in 79 A. D., advertised for lease a firm consisting of 900 retail shops. The Mitsui system of apothecary shops in Japan dates from 1643, and the company has been one of the wealthiest and most powerful businesses in that country.