At the outset of his 1902 publication in the Lancet, Dr. John Beard discloses that as an embryologist he is not the most socially licensed scientist to be proposing a theory regarding the etiology of cancer. He advises that it is the current protocol for this subject matter to be left to the surgeons and pathologists, as it is concerned with dying, not of coming-into-being. Beard boldly notes that these professionals had thus far failed to define the cause of cancer. He goes on to reason that an embryologist may have more success at this task, as cancer is ultimately…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From November, 2006
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG SAPLING: TREES AS ARTISTS AND MOBILE ENTITIES
Image resulting from tree “painting” by Douglas-fir for two minutes. Trees epitomize immobility and passivity. They are rooted in one place, have extremely long lives relative to humans, and react slowly to most environmental stimuli, so both practically and symbolically, trees are closely linked with the related characteristics of stability, constancy, and permanence. The word “tree” is derived from the Sanskrit word “deru”, which shares its roots with the words endure, hard, and continue. Spiritual practitioners often relate sitting silently in one place – like a tree — to religious leaders such as the Buddha, who achieved enlightenment under the…
WHAT IF
Tired of waiting for more attention, the cat stretched, walked across the still form and up onto the table. It sniffed the shiny cylinders the man had used, and then stepped onto the machine into which the man had been speaking. Its curiosity satisfied, the feline jumped to the ground, but in doing so, a paw depressed a lever causing the devise to click, whir, and click again. The instrument began talking. “I suppose it was bound to happen: insidiously, silently, and with perfunctory decisiveness. “For the record, my name is Malachi, Doctor Antonio Malachi, not that it will mean…