CHAPTER III 



THE BEAR LARINUS 



I SALLY forth in the night, with a lantern, 

 to spy out the land. Around me, a circle 

 of faint light enables me to recognize the 

 broad masses fairly well, but leaves the fine 

 details unperceived. At a few paces' dis- 

 tance, the modest illumination disperses, dies 

 away. Farther off still, everything is pitch- 

 dark. The lantern shows me and but very 

 indistinctly just one of the innumerable 

 pieces that compose the mosaic of the ground. 



To see some more of them, I move on. 

 Each time there is the same narrow circle, 

 of doubtful visibility. By what laws are 

 these points, inspected one by one, correlated 

 in the general picture? The candle-end can- 

 not tell me; I should need the light of the 

 sun. 



Science too proceeds by lantern-flashes; it 

 explores nature's inexhaustible mosaic piece 

 by piece. Too often the wick lacks oil; the 



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