The Forest and the Sea [antikvár]

THE STUDY OF LIFE[Biology] is the least self-centered, the least narcissistic of the sciencesthe one that, by taking us out of ourselves, leads us to re-establish a link with nature and to shake ourselves free from our spiritual isolation.JEAN ROSTAND, in Can Man Be Modified?People often come to me with some strange animal they have found."What is it?" they ask.Frequently I can't saysometimes I get a despairing feeling of never knowing the answers to questions people ask. But at least I know where to look it up; or I know someone who is an expert on that kind of animal, so I can relay the question to him. And once in a while I know the answer."Oh," I say brightly, "that is a swallowtail butterfly, Papi-lio cresphontes."It is curious how happy people are to have a name for something, for an animal or plant, even though they know nothing about it beyond the name. I wonder whether there isn't some lingering element of word magic here, some feel-mg that knowing the name gives you power over the thing namedthe sort of feeling that leads members of some savage tribes to conceal their personal names from all except their intimates. An enemy, learning their name, might be able to use this power for some evil purpose.But other questions follow, "Where does it live?" and "What does it do?"I explain that it is a tropical butterfly, common in Florida, which sometimes gets quite far north in the United States.9ilisi