Folded into the page of Vico on which the passage appeared was a bill for candles on the back of which Ash had written: “The individual appears for an instant, joins the community of thought, modifies it and dies; but the species, that dies not, reaps the fruit of his ephemeral existence.” Roland copied this out and made another card, on which he interrogated himself: “Query? Is this a quotation or is it Ash himself? Is Proserpina the Species? A very C19 idea. Or is she the individual? When did he put these papers in here? Are they pre- or post-The Origin of Species? Not conclusive anyway—he
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