The Geometry of the Epeira's Web 



geometers, combining number and extent, at 

 will, so as to imagine a tenebrous abyss where- 

 in to practise their analytical methods after- 

 wards? Is it a mere dream in the night of 

 die intricate, an abstract riddle flung out for 

 our understanding to browse upon? 



No, it is a reality in the service of life, a 

 method of construction frequently employed 

 in animal architecture. The Mollusc, in 

 particular, never rolls the winding ramp of 

 the shell without reference to the scientific 

 curve. The first-bom of tiie species knew it 

 and pat it into practice; it was as perfect in 

 the da.wn of creation as it can be to-day. 



Let us study, in this connection, the Am- 

 monites, those venerable rehcs of what was 

 once Ae highest expression of living things, at 

 the time when die solid land was taking shap>e 

 from the oceanic ooze. Cut and ptolished 

 lengthwise, die fossil shows a magnificent 

 logaridimic spiral, the general pattern of the 

 dwelling which was a pearl palace, with nu- 

 merous diambers traversed by a siphimcular 

 corridor. 



To this day, die last representative of the 

 Cephalopoda with partitioned shells, the 

 NautiliK of the Southern Seas, remains fiuth. 



