NOTES 



nettle or polype. I had the pleasure to see the paws or feet 

 of this nettle move, and having placed the vase full of 

 water in which the coral was, near the fire, at a moderate 

 heat, all the little insects expanded, the nettle stretched 

 out its feet and formed what M. de Marsigli and I had 

 taken for the petals of the flower. The calyx of this so- 

 called flower is the very body of the animal issued from its 

 cell." 

 PAGE 117 



Reaumur (1683-1757): a French physiologist and nat- 

 uralist, best known as the inventor of the Re'aumur thermom- 

 eter. He was a member of the French Academy of Science. 

 Bishop Wilson : Thomas Wilson (1663-1755), bishop of 

 the Isle of Man. Details of his life are given in the folio 

 edition of his works (1782). An appreciation of his religious 



writings is given by Matthew Arnold in Culture and Anar- 

 chy. Bishop Wilson's words, " To make reason and the will 

 of God prevail," are the theme of Arnold's essay, Sweetness 

 and Light. An eminent modern writer : Matthew Ar- 

 nold (1822-1888), eldest son of Thomas Arnold, headmas- 

 ter of Rugby ; a distinguished critic and poet, and professor 

 of poetry at Oxford. The allusion is to Arnold's essay, Stceet- 

 nesn and Light. The phrase, " sweetness and light," is one 

 which -<Esop uses in Swift's Battle of the Books to sum up the 

 superiority of the ancients over the moderns. " As for us, the 

 ancients, we are content, with the bee, to pretend to nothing 

 of our own beyond our wings and our voice, that is to say, 

 our flights and our language ; for the rest, whatever we have 

 got has been by infinite labor and search, and ranging 

 through every corner of nature ; the difference is, that in- 

 stead of dirt and poison we have rather chose to fill our 

 hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the 

 two noblest things, which are sweetness and light." Arnold's 

 purpose in the essay is to define the cultured man as one 

 who endeavors to make beauty and intelligence prevail 

 everywhere. 



PAGE 118 



Abbe" Tr e/ mbley (1700-1784): a Swiss naturalist. He 

 wrote "Memoires pour servir a Phistoire d'un genre de 

 polypes d'eau doiice, a bras en forme de comes." Bernard 

 de Jussieu (1699-1776): a French botanist; founder of 

 the natural classification of plants. He was superintendent of 

 the Trianon Gardens. Guettard (1715-1786): a French 

 naturalist. 



PAGE 124 



Monte Nuovo within the old crater of Somma : Monte 

 Nuovo, a mountain west of Naples ; Somma, a mountain 



