Would that our lives would be free from dangers! Would that we might have no worries! Hey, are you afraid of mosquitoes that carry malaria, Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue and Yellow fever, Eastern Equine and St. Louis Encephalitis, and West Nile?
Scary stuff. Then there are spiders, the brown recluse and black widow. What about crocs in the Everglades? Want to swim in the ocean but are afraid of sharks and poisonous jellyfish? Then there are steps. Yes, steps, not in themselves much danger, but couple them on occasion with gravity, and Boink!
I didn’t even mention snakes. Sneaky, aren’t they? You’re sitting outside at a picnic, and there, uninvited and at first unnoticed, beside you, to use Emily Dickinson’s words, lies a “narrow fellow in the grass.” Well, there’s always that trip to Iceland you’ve been putting off. In probably one of the most famous chapters in all of scientific writing you can find your motivation for that trip to the Far North or motivation for continuing your happy life in the Land of Fire and Ice. The book in which the famous Chapter 72 lies is Tilforladelige efterretninger om Island, basically, The Natural History of Iceland by Dane Niels Horrebow. Dr. Samuel Johnson playfully mentioned the nineteenth-century work when he claimed he could recite the entire chapter from memory.
Let’s put you to the memory test. See how long it takes you to memorize the English translation of Horrebow’s entire Chapter 72. Here it is in full. Ready? Go:
“There are no snakes of any kind to be met with throughout the whole island.”
So, even though you might get wiped out by a volcanic eruption on the island, you can rest assured that you won’t have to deal with at least one danger: Snakes. Packing your bags? Have your picnic in Iceland. Otherwise, learn to live with the dangers that surround you by anticipating what you can and holding onto the handrail when you walk down steps.
Scary stuff. Then there are spiders, the brown recluse and black widow. What about crocs in the Everglades? Want to swim in the ocean but are afraid of sharks and poisonous jellyfish? Then there are steps. Yes, steps, not in themselves much danger, but couple them on occasion with gravity, and Boink!
I didn’t even mention snakes. Sneaky, aren’t they? You’re sitting outside at a picnic, and there, uninvited and at first unnoticed, beside you, to use Emily Dickinson’s words, lies a “narrow fellow in the grass.” Well, there’s always that trip to Iceland you’ve been putting off. In probably one of the most famous chapters in all of scientific writing you can find your motivation for that trip to the Far North or motivation for continuing your happy life in the Land of Fire and Ice. The book in which the famous Chapter 72 lies is Tilforladelige efterretninger om Island, basically, The Natural History of Iceland by Dane Niels Horrebow. Dr. Samuel Johnson playfully mentioned the nineteenth-century work when he claimed he could recite the entire chapter from memory.
Let’s put you to the memory test. See how long it takes you to memorize the English translation of Horrebow’s entire Chapter 72. Here it is in full. Ready? Go:
“There are no snakes of any kind to be met with throughout the whole island.”
So, even though you might get wiped out by a volcanic eruption on the island, you can rest assured that you won’t have to deal with at least one danger: Snakes. Packing your bags? Have your picnic in Iceland. Otherwise, learn to live with the dangers that surround you by anticipating what you can and holding onto the handrail when you walk down steps.
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