[129] Decadents: a late nineteenth-century movement in art and literature—including such figures as Charles Baudelaire in France and Oscar
[130] "Morehouse Man": student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, an all-male, historically black college close to Spelman, the all-women's historically black college that Walker attended.
[131] Marshall Plan: an American initiative to provide economic aid to European countries after the devastation of World War II, and to promote capitalism and democracy in the region. Named after then-Secretary of State, George Marshall, the operation was in effect from April 1948 to December 1951.
[132] Distributive justice: an understanding of justice that focuses on the equitable distribution of resources across society.
[133] Boethius: a philosopher in the late-Roman/
early-Medieval period (circa 480—524) who wrote a famous treatise on music (p. 242). Parmenides: a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
[135] Motes: small particles; the term "fundamental 2. Adamant: a legendary rock said to be the
motes" refers to atoms, but later in this selection, hardest substance on earth. Today, the word is
Lucretius will use "motes" to refer to the small used as an adjective to describe someone who is
particles of dust that are visible in a house when firm in a belief or desire. sunlight streams through the window.
[137] Venus: Roman goddess of love and beauty.
[138] Sumida: a river that flows through Tokyo.
[139] Shirakawa Barrier: a fortified border between the "civilized" southern region of Japan and the wilder Oku region to which Basho was traveling.
[140] Dosojin: In the Sinto religion, dosojin were
benevolent spirits who protected travelers.
[142] Sora (Kawai Sogoro): Basho's disciple and 8. Saigyo: Heian Dynasty Japanese poet (1118— traveling companion for the entire journey. It 1190) whom Basho considered a major influence was traditional for poets at this time to adopt a on his own style.
"poetry name" to use when circulating or pub- 9. Empress JingU: legendary Japanese empress
lishing their poems. of the third century.
[143] Su Tung-p'o: major Chinese poet (1037—
1101) of the Sung Dynasty.
[145] Qenji: The Tale of Genji, written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the eleventh century, was one of the classic prose narratives of the Japanese tradition (see p. 248).
[146] Hooker and Asa Gray: Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) was an English botanist; Asa Gray (1810-1888) was an American botanist and a professor at Harvard University. Both were friends of Darwin and early champions of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
[147] Elective affinities: a term from eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century chemistry regarding chemical compounds that interacted with each other only in certain circumstances. Darwin's point is that, like this term, "natural
[148] Paint-root: a plant that grows in marshy
areas along the eastern coast of North America. According to some evidence with which Darwin
was familiar, the plant is poisonous to pigs with light skin but edible by those with dark skin, causing most of the pigs in the regions where the plant grows to be dark.
[151] Sir R. Heron: Sir Robert Heron (1765- 11. Pied: spotted, patched.
1854), an English politician with whom Darwin maintained a correspondence.
[153] Leguminos^: a family of plants that
includes more than eighteen thousand species, the most well-known of which are beans, peas, soybeans, lentils, alfalfa, and clover. Stipules: small outgrowths on the base of a leaf.
[155] Direciously: referring to a characteristic within plant species of having the male and female reproductive parts carried separately by different plants. Dimorphism: the existence of two distinctive forms within the same species.
[156] Sir Charles Lyelclass="underline" English geologist (1797
1875), whose book Principles of Geology postulated that the earth was millions, rather than thousands, of years old. Lyell claimed that great changes in the earth's structure resulted from natural forces acting gradually over long periods of time.
[158] Jean Rostand: French biologist and playwright (1894-1977).
[159] Austrian Empire: the Austro-Hungarian Empire, composed of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, collapsed after being defeated in World War I.
[160] Eddington: Arthur Eddington (1882-1944). British physicist who, in 1919, used his observations of a solar eclipse to confirm Einstein's prediction that the light around the sun should be bent by gravity.
[161] Freud's epic of the Ego, the Super-ego, and
the Id: according to Freud in his book The Ego and the Id, the human mind consists of three elements: the id, which drives people to seek pleasure; the super-ego, which drives them to
[162] African Bushman: a member of one of several hunter-gatherer tribes in the Southern region of Africa. This term is now considered to be pejorative and is normally replaced with "San people" in academic writing.
[163] Norbert Wiener: American mathematician and philosopher (1894-1964).
[164] Eutrophication: the biological process in which the dissolved nutrients in a body of water stimulate the growth of plant life, which, in turn, depletes the amount of dissolved oxygen.
[165] DDT: Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a common pesticide discussed in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (p. 328).
[166] Epigenetic rules: In biology, "epigenetic" refers to a change in an organism that takes place without a change in the underlying DNA. Wilson uses the term "epigenetic rule" to refer to a set of instructions passed through the genes that triggers some kind of response when certain environmental conditions are met. The human ability to learn language, for example, is a consequence of an epigenetic rule. People do not inherit any knowledge of a specific language, but they are born with the ability to acquire language at a very young age if they are in a language- saturated environment.
[167] Ihithe: a village in the Nyeri District of Central Kenya.
[168] Independence: Kenya received its independence from Great Britain in 1963.
[169] Mwangi: Mwangi Maathai, a Kenyan politician and Wangari Maathai's husband.
[170] Gaia: according to Greek legend, the personification of Earth, often used as a synonym for Earth itself.
[171] WTO: World Trade Organization.
[172] Te: in the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching, is normally translated into English as either
the counterpart of "Tao." Whereas "Tao" is the "virtue" or "power," and it contains elements of
universal way of nature, "Te" is the ability of an both concepts. individual to live according to the "Tao." "Te"
[173] Almsgiving: making charitable contributions. According to Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, almsgiving should always be done in secret, so as to avoid public displays of charity that are designed to bring recognition to the giver. Matthew 6:2—3 states: "Therefore when
[174] Book of Valerius: Valerius Antias was a Roman historian in the first century bce.
[175] John of Salisbury: English philosopher and 4. Titus: Roman emperor (39—81 ce) who gained