Something from Nothing
The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong
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How to Get Bees Out of Bulls
There had always been some recipes. Most things that could be spontaneously generated, however, were not useful. Frogs and eels and oysters could all be delicious, but there was no reason or means to farm them. In the early seventeenth century, people started writing recipes like speaking of scorpions,. According to jean baptiste von helment, carve an indentation in a brick, fill it with crushed basil and cover the brick with another so that the indentation is completely sealed. Expose the two bricks to sunlight, and you will find that within a few days, fumes from the basil, acting as a leavening agent, will have transformed the vegetable matter into ver
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