| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: spinning the threads, and the other arts of working in wool; these are
chiefly of two kinds, falling under the two great categories of composition
and division. Carding is of the latter sort. But our concern is chiefly
with that part of the art of wool-working which composes, and of which one
kind twists and the other interlaces the threads, whether the firmer
texture of the warp or the looser texture of the woof. These are adapted
to each other, and the orderly composition of them forms a woollen garment.
And the art which presides over these operations is the art of weaving.
But why did we go through this circuitous process, instead of saying at
once that weaving is the art of entwining the warp and the woof? In order
that our labour may not seem to be lost, I must explain the whole nature of
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: hoped she had put her hand in her pocket. I soon made her out,
however, not at all a fine fanatic--she was but a generous,
irresponsible enquirer. She had come to England to see her aunt,
and it was at her aunt's she had met the dreary lady we had all so
much on our mind. I saw she'd help to pass the time when she
observed that it was a pity this lady wasn't intrinsically more
interesting. That was refreshing, for it was an article of faith
in Mrs. Saltram's circle--at least among those who scorned to know
her horrid husband--that she was attractive on her merits. She was
in truth a most ordinary person, as Saltram himself would have been
if he hadn't been a prodigy. The question of vulgarity had no
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: difficulties far too heavily during many years to doubt their weight. But
it deserves especial notice that the more important objections relate to
questions on which we are confessedly ignorant; nor do we know how ignorant
we are. We do not know all the possible transitional gradations between
the simplest and the most perfect organs; it cannot be pretended that we
know all the varied means of Distribution during the long lapse of years,
or that we know how imperfect the Geological Record is. Grave as these
several difficulties are, in my judgment they do not overthrow the theory
of descent with modification.
Now let us turn to the other side of the argument. Under domestication we
see much variability. This seems to be mainly due to the reproductive
On the Origin of Species |
