20 GENERATION OF INSECTS 



and has been stated by wise men of early days, who in 

 philosophical matters were singularly in advance of their 

 time. Among these, that great genius who knew every- 

 thing and could write wonderfully well on all subjects, 

 said in the second canto of Paradiso : ^ 



Somewhat she smiled ; and then, " If the opinion of mortals 

 be erroneous," she said, 

 "Where'er the key of sense doth not unlock, 

 Certes the shaft of wonder should not pierce thee 

 Now, forasmuch as following the senses. 

 Thou seest that the reason has short wings." 



But, if the senses do not do their duty, if they do not 

 obtain correct information of what is happening in Na- 

 ture and thus do not aid Reason, is it strange that she 

 should make but uncertain progress, now hastening for- 

 ward impetuously, now retarded by fallacy and caught in 

 the net of error? Hence, though my philosophical stud- 

 ies have been pursued with more zeal than profundity, I 

 have nevertheless given myself all possible trouble and 

 have taken the greatest care to convince myself of facts 

 with my own eyes by means of accurate and continued 

 experiments before submitting them to my mind as mat- 

 ter for reflection. In this manner, though I may not 

 have arrived at a perfect knowledge of anything, I have 

 gone far enough to perceive that I am still entirely ig- 

 norant of many things the nature of which I supposed 

 was known to me, and when I discover a palpable false- 

 hood in ancient writings or in modern belief, I feel so 

 irresolute and doubtful of my own knowledge that I 

 scarcely dare attack it without first consulting some 



iThe Dante quotations in this work are from Longfellow's ver- 

 sions. All other extracts from Italian verse are Englished by the 

 translator. 



