The dilations and transformations undergone by the tail suggest that they may be due to a repulsive force emanating from the Sun, an electric charge transmitted doubtless through the ether.
"Astronomy for Amateurs"
Camille Flammarion
Their dilations on the development of wenches, shades of colour, qualities of stock suited to the various markets-from Richmond to New Orleans-disclose a singular foresight into the article of poor human nature.
"Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter"
F. Colburn Adams
By dint of these alternate contractions and dilations, indolent though they be, the larva nevertheless contrives to turn right round in the sort of shell with which the pseudochrysalidal integuments provide it, when by accident it finds itself placed head downwards; and this operation is all the more difficult inasmuch as the larva almost exactly fills the cavity of the shell.
"The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles"
Jean Henri Fabre