Friday, June 29, 2018

Open to new impressions under water.

June 29

P. M. – To Walden. 

Bathing in the cove by railroad. When I hold my head near the surface and look down, in two or three feet of water, the bottom appears concave, just as the sky does. 

How interesting the water-target's slender gelatinous stem and leaves, reminding me of the plants in aquaria!

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 29, 1858

Bathing in the cove by railroad. See July 17, 1860 ('The soft sand on the bottom of Walden, as deep as I can wade, feels very warm to my feet, while the water feels cold. ") and note to July 23, 1856 ("Bathing in Walden, I find the water considerably colder at the bottom while I stand up to my chin, but the sandy bottom much warmer to my feet than the water.")

Just as the sky appears concave. See June 3, 1850 ("The landscape is a vast amphitheatre rising to its rim in the horizon."): June 25, 1852 ("The earth appears like a vast saucer sloping upward to its sharp mountain rim.") ; March 28, 1858 (" On ascending the hill next his home, every man finds that he dwells in a shallow concavity whose sheltering walls are the convex surface of the earth, beyond which he cannot see..")

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