The Life of the Spider 



number of circuits around its pole, to which it 

 constandy draws nearer without ever being 

 able to reach it. This central point is inde- 

 finitely inaccessible at 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 woujd 

 soon abandon the attempt to divide the in- 

 visible. It is a volute to which the brain con- 

 ceives no limits. The trained mind, alone, 

 more discerning than our retina, sees clearly 

 that which defies the perceptive faculties of 

 the eye. The Epeira complies to the best of 

 her abilit\- with this law of the endless volute. 

 The spiral revolutions come closer together as 

 they approach the pole. At a given distance, 

 they stop abrupdy; but, at this point, the 

 auxiliary spiral, which is not destroyed in the 

 central region, takes up the thread; and w* 

 see it, not without some surprise, draw nearer 

 to the pole in ever-narrowing and scarcely 

 perceptible circles. There is not, of course, 

 absolute mathematical accuracy, but a very 

 close approximation to that accuracy. The 

 Epeira winds nearer and nearer round her 

 pole so far as her equipment, which like our 

 386 



