Part 33 (2/2)

healthful honey.

'221-222'

The power of instinct which is barely perceptible in the pig amounts almost to the power of reason in the elephant.

'223 barrier:'

p.r.o.nounced like the French 'barriere', as a word of two syllables with the accent on the last.

'226 Sense ... Thought:'

sensation and reason.

'227 Middle natures:'

intermediate natures, which long to unite with those above or below them. The exact sense is not very clear.

'233-258'

In this pa.s.sage Pope insists that the chain of being stretches unbroken from G.o.d through man to the lowest created forms. If any link in this chain were broken, as would happen if men possessed higher faculties than are now a.s.signed them, the whole universe would be thrown into confusion. This is another answer to those who complain of the imperfections of man's nature.

'234 quick:'

living. Pope does not discriminate between organic and inorganic matter.

'240 gla.s.s:'

microscope.

'242-244'

Inferior beings might then press upon us. If they did not, a fatal gap would be left by our ascent in the scale.

'247 each system:'

Pope imagines the universe to be composed of an infinite number of systems like ours. Since each of these is essential to the orderly arrangement of the universe, any disorder such as he has imagined would have infinitely destructive consequences. These are described in ll.

251-257.

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