This theory [of pangenesis] appears to be as follows: That each living organism is ultimately made up of an almost infinite number of minute particles termed gemmules, each of which has power to reproduce its kind. […] That such a complete collection of gemmules is aggregated in each ovum and spermatozoon in most animals, and in each part capable of reproducing by gemmation (budding) in the lowest animals and in plants. Therefore in many of such lower organisms such a congeries of ancestral gemmules must exist in every part of the body, since in them every part is capable of reproducing by gemmation.

mothered oil, mothered vinegar, mothered wine

Its lyrical, poetic flights seem much more at home in the romantic musings of two sisters competing for the attention of the new, handsome lector, a man hired to read stories to workers in a Florida cigar factory, who might otherwise be mesmerized by the repetitive boredom of their jobs.

I've heard tell that there used to be highwaymen in this part of the country.