ponderous technical literature pertaining to the 

 animal have been disappointing, not to say dis- 

 maying. I have found on consulting the books 

 paralyzing descriptions of anatomical puerilities, 

 but a shocking paucity of information regarding 

 the actual life of Aurelia. Much erudition and 

 ingenious speculation has been paraded concern- 

 ing the reactions of fragments and sections cut out 

 from the living animal; much professorial pro- 

 fundity has been indulged in when tracing in the 

 mutilated specimen its "behavioristic reflexes"; 

 but an almost utter silence is maintained regarding 

 the jellyfish as it lives in the waters of the sea. The 

 truth is, the animal is to these scientific slicers 

 merely a "subject"; the jellyfish, per se, is of no 

 interest whatever. Therefore, although I am fully 

 informed by the books as to how a jellyfish will 

 properly pulsate when carved into various pretty 

 and geometric patterns, I am obliged to seek for 

 myself such facts as may pertain to the animal 

 while it is intact and free. 



And yet how well I remember the religious awe 

 with which I perused these and other minutiae of 

 natural science research; how at first I regarded the 

 authors as veritable wizards. But it was not for 



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