rope-building

Updated: July 14, 2025

Any combination of forces acting in one direction must be forthwith neutralized by another in the opposite direction. This is what our statics teach us and what the Spider puts into practice; she is a past mistress of the secrets of rope-building, without serving an apprenticeship. One would think that this interrupted and apparently disordered labour must result in a confused piece of work.

Jean-Henri Fabre - The Life of the Spider