[70] Sir William Herschel (1738–1822), the Hanoverian-English astronomer, invented the principle of “gauging” the skies which was subsequently applied to the Milky Way by his son, Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871).—Translator’s Note. [71] 1⁄25 inch.—Translator’s Note. [72] Cf. The Life of the Spider: chap. xvi.—Translator’s Note. [73] Cf. The Life of the Spider: chap. xv.—Translator’s Note. [74] Man is like the medlar: he is worth nothing Unless he has ripened long in the granary, on the straw. [75] Kermes in French, the word is pronounced Kurmees in English. The dried bodies of the female insect were long supposed to be galls or berries: they were even known to trade as “kermes berries,” and were sometimes used in medicine. It is allied to the cochineal insect, although the female of the latter is very obviously an insect, browsing on the juice of certain cactuses. The kermes is found on several kinds of oak, but principally on the kermes oak, a dwarf evergreen, Q. Coccifera.—Translator’s Note. [76] Approximately .04 in. or 1⁄25 in.