360 The Life of the Spider 



science, let us confine ourselves for the present 

 to a few statements of which the reader will 

 find the proof in any treatise on higher geometry. 



The logarithmic spiral describes an endless 

 number of circuits around its pole, to which it 

 constantly draws nearer without ever being 

 able to reach it. This central point is inde- 

 finitely inaccessible g!t each approaching turn. 

 It is obvious that this property is beyond our 

 sensory scope. Even with the help of the best 

 philosophical instruments, our sight could not 

 follow its interminable windings and would soon 

 abandon the attempt to divide the invisible. 

 It is a volute to which the brain conceives no 

 limits. The trained mind, alone, more dis- 

 cerning than our retina, sees clearly that which 

 defies the perceptive faculties of the eye. 



The Epeira complies to the best of her ability 

 with this law of the endless volute. The spiral 

 revolutions come closer together as they ap- 

 proach the pole. At a given distance, they 

 stop abruptly ; but, at this point, the auxiliary 

 spiral, which is not destroyed in the central 

 region, takes up the thread ; and we see it, 

 not without some surprise, draw nearer to the 



