Chater+13+Pg.+225-246+The+Horns+of+the+Altar

Dillard spent the first part of chapter 13 at a quarry observing a copperhead snake. She describes the physical appearance of the copperhead that is located only a few feet away from her and explains how they react to humans noting her experiences. Dillard then tells a story from Mrs. Mildred Sink from Sink’s past when she was a girl and her brother was bitten in the leg causing it to swell up severely. Moving back to the quarry she analyzes the copperhead’s body stating “I wished I tapered like that somewhere” (Dillard 228). While observing the copperhead a mosquito lands on it and begins to extract blood out of the snake for 2-3 minutes before flying off without reaction from the snake. The middle of the chapter takes place back at Dillard’s home as she looks through her bookshelf to confirm what she had seen at the quarry. She finds out that it is indeed possible for mosquito’s to bite a snake which leads her to think about how other things in nature are nibbled on. She learns in one of her books that “ten percent of all the world’s species are parasitic insects” (Dillard 232). Parasitic insects live off of other living creatures which lead Dillard to state that “the creator is no puritan” (Dillard 236). The reality of the situation is that it is necessary for creatures to eat other creatures to survive because “it is chomp or fast” (Dillard 240). At the end of the chapter Dillard continues to think about how all living things in the world interact with each other. She mentions “that in a certain sense only the newborn in this world are whole, that as adults we are expected to be, and necessarily, somewhat nibbled” (Dillard 241). Dillard concludes that we have all participated in eating and that we have all been eaten as we age and grow old while living life. **Acquire - **to come into possession or ownership of; get as one's own: to acquire property. **Vanquish-** to conquer or subdue by superior force, as in battle. People: Charles Sutherland Elton ** (March 9, 1900-May 1, 1991) was an English zoologist and animal ecologist who studied invasive species and found a method to control them.   **Huston Smith ** (born May 31, 1919) is an American who studied religion and is among the most excellent scholars. He is the author of //The Religions of Man// (later revised and retiled // [|The World’s Religions] //), which sold over two million copies. His works are classic.      [] []  [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] Allusions -“I squinted at its head, staring at those eyes like the glass eyes of a stuffed warbler, at those scales like shields canted and lapped just so, to frame an improbable, unfathomable face.” (Dillard 226) -“I couldn’t see the mosquito in great detail, but I could make out its lowered head that seemed to bore like a well drill through surface rock to fluid.” (Dillard 229) -“I could imagine the snake, like the frog sucked dry by the giant water bug, collapsing to an empty bag of skin.” (Dillard 229) -“Predator and prey offenses and defenses (and fecundity is a defense) usually operate in such a way that both populations are fairly balanced, stable in the middle as it were, and frayed and nibbled at the edges, like a bitten apple that still bears its seeds.” (Dillard 240) -“Looking I see there are worms in the horns of the altar like live maggots in amber, there are shells of worms in the rock and moths flapping at my eyes.” (Dillard 246) - Worrying about getting it in the face from a timber rattler is like being struck by a meteorite: life to short (227)
 * Summary:** <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
 * Vocabulary:**
 * Anus - **the opening at the extreme lower end of alimentary canal through which solid waste mater leaves the body
 * Caribou - **any of several kinds of reindeer found in North America.
 * Chimpanzee - **an ape of Africa that lives in trees, has large ears and dark brown hair, and is smaller and more intelligent than the gorilla.
 * Diminuendo - **a gradual disease in loudness or strength
 * Engorge- **to swallow greedily
 * Etch- **to engrave (a design) on a metal plate
 * Fecundity- **the quality of being fecund; capacity, esp. in female animals, of producing young in great numbers.
 * Fetid- **having an offensive odor; stinking.
 * Formic- **Of or relating to ants.
 * Fritillary- **any of several orange-brown nymph lid butterflies, usually marked with black lines and dots and with silvery spots on the undersides of the wings.
 * Grotesque- **odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre.
 * Gonad- **An organ in animals that produces gametes, especially a testis or ovary.
 * Heft- **<span style="line-height: 150%; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was a rather flimsy chair, without much heft to it.
 * Mange- **any of various skin diseases caused by parasitic mites, affecting animals and sometimes humans and characterized by loss of hair and scabby eruptions.
 * Ovipositor- **(in certain female insects) an organ at the end of the abdomen, by which eggs is deposited.
 * Serrate- **notched on the edge like a saw
 * Simultaneously- **existing, occurring, or operating at the same time; concurrent; simultaneous movements; simultaneous translation.
 * Sinuosity- **a curve, bend, or turn<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
 * Splotches- **to be susceptible to stains or blots; show or retain stains, blots, or spots of dirt or liquid
 * Undulating- **to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion; display a smooth rising-and-falling or side-to-side alternation of movement
 * Venomous- **(of an animal) having a gland or glands for secreting venom; able to inflict a poisoned bite, sting, or wound: a venomous snake.
 * Warbler- **any of several small, chiefly Old World songbirds of the subfamily Sylviidae.
 * Warthog- **an African wild swine, Phacochoerus aethiopicus,  having large tusks and warty protuberances on the face.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">Dr. Marston Bates **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (July 23, 1906-April 3, 1974) was an American Zoologist and he did studies on mosquitoes and contributed to the understanding of the epidemiology of yellow fever in northern South America. He also wrote many popular science books. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">Edwin Way **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';"> **Teale** 234(1899-1980), was a naturalist, writer, and photographer. He is one of American’s best-loved naturalists who had an ability to touch his audience’s heart. He is ranked with John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and John Burroughs as one of the best and most influential nature writers in the United States.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">Gerald Durrell **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">(January 7, 1925- January 30, 1995) was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter. He established the Jersey Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1958. His most well known work was his book where he wrote in an animal character that was based on his life.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">Howard Ensign Evans **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';"> (February 23, 1919- July 18, 2002) was an American entomologist who studied wasps. He served in the army, doing pioneering work on the Guardia parasite during World War II. His works was published in 255 scientific papers, 40 popular articles and 13 books, including Wasp Farm and the Pleasures of Entomology.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';">Loren Eiseley **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';"> 231 (September 3, 1097- July 9, 1977) was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer. He was noted as a “scholar and writer of imagination and grace”. He received more than 36 honorary degrees in his era.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Paul Allman Siple **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (December 18, 1909–November 25, 1968) was an American Antarctic and geographer explorer. He wrote his first and third books about his six Antarctica expeditions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">He served in the army as the Army Scientific Office for most of his career. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-tab-count: 1; msobidifontfamily: 'Angsana New'; msotabcount: 1;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Angsana New';"> 242 (December 28, 1882- November 22, 1944) was an English astrophysicist who was famous for the Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars and the theory of relativity. He served many lines of scientific communication and new developments in German science in World War I.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Vincent Willem van Gogh **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (March 30, 1853 –July 29 1890) was a Duck Post-Impressionist artist. He was famous for his creation of a new unique style of art which he made the colors brighter. He created more than 2000 art work during the period of his last ten years. Today, his works are well known, popular, and very expensive. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif';">