November 30, 2008

Tapetum lucidum

The eyes of many predatory animals—and the animals they prey upon—glow in the dark because of the tapetum lucidum, "a special, reflective surface right behind their retinas." NPR's "Science Out Of The Box" explains it here.

At the end of the chapter, Milada quotes from Paradise Lost, Book I:

In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summers day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star[.]

The verse Rachel remembers is from the Book of Revelation, chapter 12 (KJV):

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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