or later it floats down
they seem to prefer the smooth surface of the glass
or the excess of water,
all that is spoken of there
is apt to go all to pieces
you waste no time in finding it
and sooner or later it floats down
the most delicate threads
beautifully shown,
difficult to distinguish
are always present
—
ex Clara Langenbeck (1868-1933), “Preliminary Study of Mycetozoa.” Journal of Applied Microscopy and Laboratory Methods 4:1 (January 1901) : 1119-1121 (Indiana University copy)
New York Botanical Garden copy (opens to same page 1121) at archive.org
—
Willst du dich am Ganzen erquicken,
So musst du das Ganze im kleinsten erblicken.
If you in the Whole would be refreshed,
So must you discern the Whole in the smallest.
Goethe,
one of two epigrams to Thomas H(uston). MacBride (1848-1934 *). The North American Slime Moulds: Being a List of All Species of Myxomycetes hitherto described from North America, including Central America (1899) : v
cited at the beginning of Langenbeck’s paper
Mycetozoa, a grouping of slime molds (wikipedia)
tags: colloquial scientific discourse; mycetozoa; kleinsten erblicken
Clara Langenbeck; Goethe; Thomas Huston MacBride; couplets