The Life of the Grasshopper 



is to extract an almost neutral liquid, just 

 as the roots draw it from the soil; she does 

 not admit to her fountain the fluids worked 

 up into essential principles. The liquid that 

 trickles forth under the insect's gimlet and 

 forms a bead at the bottom of the foamy 

 mass is perfectly clear. 



I have gathered this drop on the spurge, 

 the arum, the clematis and the buttercup. I 

 expected to find a fire-water, pungent as the 

 sap of those different plants. Well, it is 

 nothing of the kind; it lacks all savour; it is 

 water or little more. And this insipid stuff 

 has issued from a reservoir of vitriol. 



If I prick the spurge with a fine needle, 

 that which rises from the puncture is a white, 

 milky drop, tasting horribly bitter. When 

 the Cicadella pushes in her drill, a clear, 

 flavourless fluid oozes out. The two opera- 

 tions seem to be directed towards different 

 sources. 



How does she manage to draw a liquid 

 that is clear and harmless from the same 

 barrel whence my needle brings up some- 

 thing milky and burning? Can the Cica- 

 della, with her instrument, that incompara- 

 ble alembic, divide the fierce fluid into two, 

 admitting the neutral and rejecting the pep- 

 440 



