Nature’s Connections by Nicola McGirr, The Natural History Museum,
£12.95, ISBN 0565091441
ZEUS has a lot to answer for. Each of his nine nights of sexual athletics
with Mnemosyne resulted in a daughter, a collective achievement we refer to as
the Muses. The names of two daughters found a place in our
language—Terpsichore, muse of choral dancing, and Urania, muse of
astronomy. Each of the nine presided over a distinct field of thought. So to
“muse” is to ponder thoughtfully, and a museum is home to the Muses—that
is, to all the manifestations of human thought and imagination.…
