Change of language, change of content

From now on this blog is about my adventures in bioinformatics and in the use of open source software:
The code is bash, perl, R -especially sweave/noweb-, LaTeX and my lovely, beastly OS editor`s (Gnu-Emacs) elisp.

I will publish code snippets and short comments in English language. You con read about the same and my other more biology focussed interests in German on Alles was lebt.

Sonntag, 2. November 2008

Best nematode quote ever

NATHAN AUGUSTUS COBB

1859-1932

"In short, if all the matter in the universe except the

nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly

recognizable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could then

investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales,

rivers, lakes, and oceans represented by a film of

nematodes. The location of towns would be decipherable,

since for every massing of human beings there would be a

corresponding massing of certain nematodes. Trees would

still stand in ghostly rows representing our streets and

highways. The location of the various plants and animals

would still be decipherable, and, had we sufficient

knowledge, in many cases even their species could be

determined by an examination of their erstwhile nematode

parasites."

from "Nematodes and Their Relationships", 1915

2 Kommentare:

Argent23 hat gesagt…

Super, endlich hab ich nen Namen zu der Geschichte! Das wird ja oft in der einen oder anderen Form als Anekdote erzählt, aber dass das so alt ist war mir nicht bewusst!

derele hat gesagt…

Der genaue Wortlaut ist auch der Hammer...

"...had we sufficient knowledge, in many cases even their species could be determined by an examination of their erstwhile nematode parasites."

na klar, haben wir, "jetzt muessen wir nur noch alle stoerende Materie im Universum ausser den Nematoden hinwegfegen"... :-)