ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



reaction on the bosky beauty of their en- 

 vironment thus illustrating in microscopic 

 fields the achievements of one 



"Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 

 And grasps the skirts of happy chance" 



forever proving that nothing can smother 

 the true Promethean spark, even when it is 

 lodged in the lowly breast of a beetle. 



To the casual observer, these etchings 

 might easily pass as the work of some vermic- 

 ulous Whistler or Corot. But those who 

 are familiar with the Blake-like fancies of the 

 genus Pityopthorus, or its gifted kindred 

 of the genus Ips, would never confuse even 

 the most distinguished works of a worm 

 with those of our artists. A second error 

 into which one might easily fall has its source 

 in the pictograph itself. At first blush, it 

 looks like nothing so much as a bold plagiar- 

 ism from a Japanese model. It has the same 

 unfettered grace and fancy, and several of 

 its figures suggest the sacred dragons of the 

 Orient. 



Even a cursory glance at the photographs 



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