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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