The Science Essayist

I don’t even have to touch her, sometimes, before it begins; on my approach, her ears unfold to my footfalls, each one a triangular flag hoisted by a tiny sailor. Chin lifts from crossed paws, emerald eyes widen, and I couldn’t stop it now if I tried—for even before my thumb has arrived at her [...]

There is a wonderful H.G. Wells story in which a taxidermist, puffed up like a Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), lists the feats of stuffing and mounting he has achieved so far: an elephant; a moth; a great auk; several human beings. His litany culminates, to the narrator’s enthrallment and horror, in the following remarkable boast.
“But [...]