Die histochemischen und physiologischen Arbeiten. 2 vols.

In a letter to his uncle, the embryologist, Wilhelm His, written on December 17, 1892, and first published in this collected edition, Miescher described a kind of genetic code. He remarked how "some of the large molecules encountered in biology, composed of a repetition of a few similar but not identical small chemical pieces, could express all the right variety of the hereditary message, 'just as the words and concepts of all languages can find expression in twenty-four to thirty letters of the alphabet" (Judson, The eighth day of creation. Makers of the revolution in biology, p. 28). Miescher's letter to Wilhelm His was first published in vol. 1, pp. 116-17 of this work.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.