Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

tando la via et ad gli obstaculi contrahendole. (d4r) [I was unable to discern a single thing, but walked with my arms stretched out in front of my face to avoid striking my head on a pillar as I went.] This did the office of my sightless eyes, just as a snail, carrying its house, stretches and shrinks its soft little horns to feel its way and draws them in at every obstacle. (G 63) The seashell is the natural form behind the rows on the shaft of a column, and A draws one on ...