Comments on the origin of the carbon and nitrogen variations whitin NGC 6752 and 47 Tucanae.

A semiquantitative investigation is conducted into the consequences of the available carbon and nitrogen abundance measurements within the globular clusters NGC 6752 and 47 Tuc for both the mixing and primordial hypotheses. Observations of a bimodal CN distribution coupled with the existence of a carbon, nitrogen abundance anticorrelation within a globular cluster are difficult to reconcile with a scenario in which primordial enrichment of a protocluster gas cloud has been produced by a generation of intermediate-mass stars with a composition identical to that of the present CN-weak giants. At present, NGC 6752 is the only cluster in which the available data are extensive enough to give credence to the assumption that the CN anticorrelation exists in all CN-strong stars within a cluster.