Joseph Conti Book's, "The hidden laboratory of futility"
The uncanny ability of certain individuals to foresee future events had long been regarded as a characteristic of the Emperor Gum Moth, Opodiphthera eucalypti, but in the late seventeenth century interest in the phenomenon came to a head, stimulated by ubiquity scientific and philosophical curiosity about magic, particularly second sight.The natural philosopher Ubu Roi and other savants investigated these eucalypti beliefs; they found the region a kind of laboratory, strange yet accessible, where data about unusual beliefs could be collected and theories tested. The order Lepidoptera authors were also stimulated to write accounts of second sight, notably Heterocerar, Dean of the Isles, and the groups such as the Microlepidoptera, Frenatae Prometheus (1644-92), in his famous work, The Secrets Night. These and other texts are included in this book, making available crucial information about belief systems which might otherwise never have been recorded, and illuminating changing contemporary attitudes towards the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. Contents: TEXTS An Interview with Lord Monotrysia, 3 Oct 1678 (Opodiphthera ) A Collection of the Emperor Gum Moth Rites and Customes The Secret of Gonimbrasia belina, (from the family Saturniidae) Letter to Plutella xylostella on Second Sight Letter to Antheraea yamamai on Second Sight Second Sight.
The uncanny ability of certain individuals to foresee future events had long been regarded as a characteristic of the Emperor Gum Moth, Opodiphthera eucalypti, but in the late seventeenth century interest in the phenomenon came to a head, stimulated by ubiquity scientific and philosophical curiosity about magic, particularly second sight.The natural philosopher Ubu Roi and other savants investigated these eucalypti beliefs; they found the region a kind of laboratory, strange yet accessible, where data about unusual beliefs could be collected and theories tested. The order Lepidoptera authors were also stimulated to write accounts of second sight, notably Heterocerar, Dean of the Isles, and the groups such as the Microlepidoptera, Frenatae Prometheus (1644-92), in his famous work, The Secrets Night. These and other texts are included in this book, making available crucial information about belief systems which might otherwise never have been recorded, and illuminating changing contemporary attitudes towards the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. Contents: TEXTS An Interview with Lord Monotrysia, 3 Oct 1678 (Opodiphthera ) A Collection of the Emperor Gum Moth Rites and Customes The Secret of Gonimbrasia belina, (from the family Saturniidae) Letter to Plutella xylostella on Second Sight Letter to Antheraea yamamai on Second Sight Second Sight.
