10.2: Book IV
O, for that warning voice, which he, who saw
The Apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud,
Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
Came furious down to be revenged on men,
Woe to the inhabitants on earth! that now,
While time was, our first parents had been warned
The coming of their secret foe, and ‘scaped,
Haply so ‘scaped his mortal snare: For now
Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,
The tempter ere the accuser of mankind,
To wreak on innocent frail Man his loss
Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell:
Yet, not rejoicing in his speed, though bold
Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,
Begins his dire attempt; which nigh the birth
Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast,
And like a devilish engine back recoils
Upon himself; horrour and doubt distract
His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
The Hell within him; for within him Hell
He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
One step, no more than from himself, can fly
By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair,
That slumbered; wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view
Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;
Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun,
Which now sat high in his meridian tower:
Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began.
O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,
Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God
Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;
Till pride and worse ambition threw me down
Warring in Heaven against Heaven’s matchless King:
Ah, wherefore! he deserved no such return
From me, whom he created what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
What could be less than to afford him praise,
The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,
How due! yet all his good proved ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
I ‘sdeined subjection, and thought one step higher
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burdensome still paying, still to owe,
Forgetful what from him I still received,
And understood not that a grateful mind
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and discharged; what burden then
O, had his powerful destiny ordained
Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood
Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised
Ambition! Yet why not some other Power
As great might have aspired, and me, though mean,
Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations armed.
Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?
Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
But Heaven’s free love dealt equally to all?
Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,
To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will
Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
O, then, at last relent: Is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
None left but by submission; and that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to submit, boasting I could subdue
The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
Under what torments inwardly I groan,
While they adore me on the throne of Hell.
With diadem and scepter high advanced,
The lower still I fall, only supreme
In misery: Such joy ambition finds.
But say I could repent, and could obtain,
By act of grace, my former state; how soon
Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay
What feigned submission swore? Ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
For never can true reconcilement grow,
Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear
Short intermission bought with double smart.
This knows my Punisher; therefore as far
From granting he, as I from begging, peace;
All hope excluded thus, behold, instead
Of us out-cast, exil’d, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, fear;
Farewell, remorse! all good to me is lost;
Evil, be thou my good; by thee at least
Divided empire with Heaven’s King I hold,
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;
As Man ere long, and this new world, shall know.
Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face
Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy, and despair;
Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
For heavenly minds from such distempers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,
Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,
Artificer of fraud; and was the first
That practised falsehood under saintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge:
Yet not enough had practised to deceive
Uriel once warned; whose eye pursued him down
The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount
Saw him disfigured, more than could befall
Spirit of happy sort; his gestures fierce
He marked and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champaign head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied; and overhead upgrew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene, and, as the ranks ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verdurous wall of Paradise upsprung;
Which to our general sire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire neighbouring round.
And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit,
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appeared, with gay enamelled colours mixed:
On which the sun more glad impressed his beams
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath showered the earth; so lovely seemed
That landskip: And of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair: Now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambick, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabean odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the blest; with such delay
Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league
Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
So entertained those odorous sweets the Fiend,
Who came their bane; though with them better pleased
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse
Of Tobit’s son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.
Now to the ascent of that steep savage hill
Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow;
But further way found none, so thick entwined,
As one continued brake, the undergrowth
Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplexed
All path of man or beast that passed that way.
One gate there only was, and that looked east
On the other side: which when the arch-felon saw,
Due entrance he disdained; and, in contempt,
At one flight bound high over-leaped all bound
Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
In hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
Leaps o’er the fence with ease into the fold:
Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the cash
Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,
In at the window climbs, or o’er the tiles:
So clomb this first grand thief into God’s fold;
So since into his church lewd hirelings climb.
Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life,
The middle tree and highest there that grew,
Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life
Thereby regained, but sat devising death
To them who lived; nor on the virtue thought
Of that life-giving plant, but only used
For prospect, what well used had been the pledge
Of immortality. So little knows
Any, but God alone, to value right
The good before him, but perverts best things
To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.
Beneath him with new wonder now he views,
To all delight of human sense exposed,
In narrow room, Nature’s whole wealth, yea more,
A Heaven on Earth: For blissful Paradise
Of God the garden was, by him in the east
Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line
From Auran eastward to the royal towers
Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,
Or where the sons of Eden long before
Dwelt in Telassar: In this pleasant soil
His far more pleasant garden God ordained;
Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow
All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
And all amid them stood the tree of life,
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
Of vegetable gold; and next to life,
Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew fast by,
Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill.
Southward through Eden went a river large,
Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill
Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden-mould high raised
Upon the rapid current, which, through veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn,
Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
Watered the garden; thence united fell
Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from his darksome passage now appears,
And now, divided into four main streams,
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
And country, whereof here needs no account;
But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
With mazy errour under pendant shades
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art
In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrowned the noontide bowers: Thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view;
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o’er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; mean while murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned
Her crystal mirrour holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower by gloomy Dis
Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain
To seek her through the world; nor that sweet grove
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle
Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,
Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea’s eye;
Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard,
Mount Amara, though this by some supposed
True Paradise under the Ethiop line
By Nilus’ head, enclosed with shining rock,
A whole day’s journey high, but wide remote
From this Assyrian garden, where the Fiend
Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind
Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange
Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike erect, with native honour clad
In naked majesty seemed lords of all:
And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
For contemplation he and valour formed;
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him:
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved
As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.

So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight
Of God or Angel; for they thought no ill:
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair,
That ever since in love’s embraces met;
Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.
Under a tuft of shade that on a green
Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side
They sat them down; and, after no more toil
Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed
To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease
More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite
More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell,
Nectarine fruits which the compliant boughs
Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline
On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers:
The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind,
Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream;
Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles
Wanted, nor youthful dalliance, as beseems
Fair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,
Alone as they. About them frisking played
All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase
In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed
His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly,
Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
His braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,
Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,
Declined, was hasting now with prone career
To the ocean isles, and in the ascending scale
Of Heaven the stars that usher evening rose:
When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,
Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.
O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold!
Into our room of bliss thus high advanced
Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,
Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
Little inferiour; whom my thoughts pursue
With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
In them divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
Ah! gentle pair, ye little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe;
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
Happy, but for so happy ill secured
Long to continue, and this high seat your Heaven
Ill fenced for Heaven to keep out such a foe
As now is entered; yet no purposed foe
To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn,
Though I unpitied: League with you I seek,
And mutual amity, so strait, so close,
That I with you must dwell, or you with me
Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please,
Like this fair Paradise, your sense; yet such
Accept your Maker’s work; he gave it me,
Which I as freely give: Hell shall unfold,
To entertain you two, her widest gates,
And send forth all her kings; there will be room,
Not like these narrow limits, to receive
Your numerous offspring; if no better place,
Thank him who puts me loth to this revenge
On you who wrong me not for him who wronged.
And should I at your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet publick reason just,
Honour and empire with revenge enlarged,
By conquering this new world, compels me now
To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.
So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The tyrant’s plea, excused his devilish deeds.
Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
Down he alights among the sportful herd
Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,
Now other, as their shape served best his end
Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied,
To mark what of their state he more might learn,
By word or action marked. About them round
A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;
Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,
Straight couches close, then, rising, changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing, he might surest seize them both,
Griped in each paw: when, Adam first of men
To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
Turned him, all ear to hear new utterance flow.
Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys,
Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
That made us, and for us this ample world,
Be infinitely good, and of his good
As liberal and free as infinite;
That raised us from the dust, and placed us here
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing merited, nor can perform
Aught whereof he hath need; he who requires
From us no other service than to keep
This one, this easy charge, of all the trees
In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
So various, not to taste that only tree
Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;
So near grows death to life, whate’er death is,
Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowest
God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree,
The only sign of our obedience left,
Among so many signs of power and rule
Conferred upon us, and dominion given
Over all other creatures that possess
Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard
One easy prohibition, who enjoy
Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights:
But let us ever praise him, and extol
His bounty, following our delightful task,
To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers,
Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.
To whom thus Eve replied. O thou for whom
And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am to no end, my guide
And head! what thou hast said is just and right.
For we to him indeed all praises owe,
And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy
So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou
Like consort to thyself canst no where find.
That day I oft remember, when from sleep
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
Bending to look on me: I started back,
It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me; “What thou seest,
What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he
Whose image thou art; him thou shalt enjoy
Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
Mother of human race.” What could I do,
But follow straight, invisibly thus led?
Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall,
Under a platane; yet methought less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
Than that smooth watery image: Back I turned;
Thou following cryedst aloud, “Return, fair Eve;
Whom flyest thou? whom thou flyest, of him thou art,
His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
Substantial life, to have thee by my side
Henceforth an individual solace dear;
Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
My other half:” With that thy gentle hand
Seised mine: I yielded; and from that time see
How beauty is excelled by manly grace,
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.
So spake our general mother, and with eyes
Of conjugal attraction unreproved,
And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned
On our first father; half her swelling breast
Naked met his, under the flowing gold
Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
Both of her beauty, and submissive charms,
Smiled with superiour love, as Jupiter
On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds
That shed Mayflowers; and pressed her matron lip
With kisses pure: Aside the Devil turned
For envy; yet with jealous leer malign
Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.
Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two,
Imparadised in one another’s arms,
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the least,
Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.
Yet let me not forget what I have gained
From their own mouths: All is not theirs, it seems;
One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
Can it be death? And do they only stand
By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin! hence I will excite their minds
With more desire to know, and to reject
Envious commands, invented with design
To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt
Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such,
They taste and die: What likelier can ensue
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
A chance but chance may lead where I may meet
Some wandering Spirit of Heaven by fountain side,
Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw
What further would be learned. Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,
Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed!
So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,
But with sly circumspection, and began
Through wood, through waste, o’er hill, o’er dale, his roam
Mean while in utmost longitude, where Heaven
With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
Slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise
Levelled his evening rays: It was a rock
Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,
Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
Accessible from earth, one entrance high;
The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung
Still as it rose, impossible to climb.
Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
Chief of the angelick guards, awaiting night;
About him exercised heroick games
The unarmed youth of Heaven, but nigh at hand
Celestial armoury, shields, helms, and spears,
Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.
Thither came Uriel, gliding through the even
On a sun-beam, swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fired
Impress the air, and shows the mariner
From what point of his compass to beware
Impetuous winds: He thus began in haste.
Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath given
Charge and strict watch, that to this happy place
No evil thing approach or enter in.
This day at highth of noon came to my sphere
A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know
More of the Almighty’s works, and chiefly Man,
God’s latest image: I described his way
Bent all on speed, and marked his aery gait;
But in the mount that lies from Eden north,
Where he first lighted, soon discerned his looks
Alien from Heaven, with passions foul obscured:
Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade
Lost sight of him: One of the banished crew,
I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise
New troubles; him thy care must be to find.
To whom the winged warriour thus returned.
Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect sight,
Amid the sun’s bright circle where thou sitst,
See far and wide: In at this gate none pass
The vigilance here placed, but such as come
Well known from Heaven; and since meridian hour
No creature thence: If Spirit of other sort,
So minded, have o’er-leaped these earthly bounds
On purpose, hard thou knowest it to exclude
Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.
But if within the circuit of these walks,
In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom
Thou tellest, by morrow dawning I shall know.
So promised he; and Uriel to his charge
Returned on that bright beam, whose point now raised
Bore him slope downward to the sun now fallen
Beneath the Azores; whether the prime orb,
Incredible how swift, had thither rolled
Diurnal, or this less volubil earth,
By shorter flight to the east, had left him there
Arraying with reflected purple and gold
The clouds that on his western throne attend.
Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad;
Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleased: Now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light,
And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.
When Adam thus to Eve. Fair Consort, the hour
Of night, and all things now retired to rest,
Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines
Our eye-lids: Other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
While other animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
With first approach of light, we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
Mean while, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned
My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst
Unargued I obey: So God ordains;
God is thy law, thou mine: To know no more
Is woman’s happiest knowledge, and her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night,
With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night,
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.

To whom our general ancestor replied.
Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve,
These have their course to finish round the earth,
By morrow evening, and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Ministring light prepared, they set and rise;
Lest total Darkness should by night regain
Her old possession, and extinguish life
In Nature and all things; which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warm,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the sun’s more potent ray.
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise:
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
Both day and night: How often from the steep
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or responsive each to others note,
Singing their great Creator? oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
In full harmonick number joined, their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.
Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed
On to their blissful bower: it was a place
Chosen by the sovran Planter, when he framed
All things to Man’s delightful use; the roof
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,
Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower,
Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin,
Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought
Mosaick; underfoot the violet,
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone
Of costliest emblem: Other creature here,
Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
Such was their awe of Man. In shadier bower
More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor Nymph
Nor Faunus haunted.
Thus, at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
Both turned, and under open sky adored
The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the moon’s resplendent globe,
And starry pole: Thou also madest the night,
Maker Omnipotent, and thou the day,
Which we, in our appointed work employed,
Have finished, happy in our mutual help
And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss
Ordained by thee; and this delicious place
For us too large, where thy abundance wants
Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.
But thou hast promised from us two a race
To fill the earth, who shall with us extol
Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.
This said unanimous, and other rites
Observing none, but adoration pure
Which God likes best, into their inmost bower
Handed they went; and, eased the putting off
These troublesome disguises which we wear,
Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I ween,
Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
Mysterious of connubial love refused:
Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
Of purity, and place, and innocence,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
Our Maker bids encrease; who bids abstain
But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
Hail, wedded Love, mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring, sole propriety
In Paradise of all things common else!
By thee adulterous Lust was driven from men
Among the bestial herds to range; by thee
Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,
Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
Far be it, that I should write thee sin or blame,
Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
Perpetual fountain of domestick sweets,
Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,
Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.
Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,
Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile
Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,
Casual fruition; nor in court-amours,
Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
These, lulled by nightingales, embracing slept,
And on their naked limbs the flowery roof
Showered roses, which the morn repaired. Sleep on,
Blest pair; and O! yet happiest, if ye seek
No happier state, and know to know no more.
Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault,
And from their ivory port the Cherubim,
Forth issuing at the accustomed hour, stood armed
To their night watches in warlike parade;
When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.
Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the south
With strictest watch; these other wheel the north;
Our circuit meets full west. As flame they part,
Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called
That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.
Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
This evening from the sun’s decline arrived,
Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen
Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped
The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:
Such, where ye find, seise fast, and hither bring.
So saying, on he led his radiant files,
Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
In search of whom they sought: Him there they found
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;
Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise
Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise
At least distempered, discontented thoughts,
Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for no falshood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts
Discovered and surprised. As when a spark
Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
Fit for the tun some magazine to store
Against a rumoured war, the smutty grain,
With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air;
So started up in his own shape the Fiend.
Back stept those two fair Angels, half amazed
So sudden to behold the grisly king;
Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon.
Which of those rebel Spirits adjudged to Hell
Comest thou, escaped thy prison? and, transformed,
Why sat’st thou like an enemy in wait,
Here watching at the head of these that sleep?
Know ye not then said Satan, filled with scorn,
Know ye not me? ye knew me once no mate
For you, there sitting where ye durst not soar:
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng; or, if ye know,
Why ask ye, and superfluous begin
Your message, like to end as much in vain?
To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn.
Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the same,
Or undiminished brightness to be known,
As when thou stoodest in Heaven upright and pure;
That glory then, when thou no more wast good,
Departed from thee; and thou resemblest now
Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul.
But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account
To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep
This place inviolable, and these from harm.
So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke,
Severe in youthful beauty, added grace
Invincible: Abashed the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
Virtue in her shape how lovely; saw, and pined
His loss; but chiefly to find here observed
His lustre visibly impaired; yet seemed
Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
Best with the best, the sender, not the sent,
Or all at once; more glory will be won,
Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
Will save us trial what the least can do
Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.
The Fiend replied not, overcome with rage;
But, like a proud steed reined, went haughty on,
Champing his iron curb: To strive or fly
He held it vain; awe from above had quelled
His heart, not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh
The western point, where those half-rounding guards
Just met, and closing stood in squadron joined,
A waiting next command. To whom their Chief,
Gabriel, from the front thus called aloud.
O friends! I hear the tread of nimble feet
Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern
Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;
And with them comes a third of regal port,
But faded splendour wan; who by his gait
And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell,
Not likely to part hence without contest;
Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.
He scarce had ended, when those two approached,
And brief related whom they brought, where found,
How busied, in what form and posture couched.
To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake.
Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed
To thy transgressions, and disturbed the charge
Of others, who approve not to transgress
By thy example, but have power and right
To question thy bold entrance on this place;
Employed, it seems, to violate sleep, and those
Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss!
To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow.
Gabriel? thou hadst in Heaven the esteem of wise,
And such I held thee; but this question asked
Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain!
Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,
Though thither doomed! Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt
And boldly venture to whatever place
Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change
Torment with ease, and soonest recompense
Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
To thee no reason, who knowest only good,
But evil hast not tried: and wilt object
His will who bounds us! Let him surer bar
His iron gates, if he intends our stay
In that dark durance: Thus much what was asked.
The rest is true, they found me where they say;
But that implies not violence or harm.
Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel moved,
Disdainfully half smiling, thus replied.
O loss of one in Heaven to judge of wise
Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,
And now returns him from his prison ‘scaped,
Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise
Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither
Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;
So wise he judges it to fly from pain
However, and to ‘scape his punishment!
So judge thou still, presumptuous! till the wrath,
Which thou incurrest by flying, meet thy flight
Sevenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,
Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain
Can equal anger infinite provoked.
 Courageous Chief!
The first in flight from pain! hadst thou alleged
To thy deserted host this cause of flight,
Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.
To which the Fiend thus answered, frowning stern.
Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,
Insulting Angel! well thou knowest I stood
Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid
The blasting vollied thunder made all speed,
And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.
But still thy words at random, as before,
Argue thy inexperience what behoves
From hard assays and ill successes past
A faithful leader, not to hazard all
Through ways of danger by himself untried:
I, therefore, I alone first undertook
To wing the desolate abyss, and spy
This new created world, whereof in Hell
Fame is not silent, here in hope to find
Better abode, and my afflicted Powers
To settle here on earth, or in mid air;
Though for possession put to try once more
What thou and thy gay legions dare against;
Whose easier business were to serve their Lord
High up in Heaven, with songs to hymn his throne,
And practised distances to cringe, not fight,
To whom the warriour Angel soon replied.
To say and straight unsay, pretending first
Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy,
Argues no leader but a liar traced,
Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name,
O sacred name of faithfulness profaned!
Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
Army of Fiends, fit body to fit head.
Was this your discipline and faith engaged,
Your military obedience, to dissolve
Allegiance to the acknowledged Power supreme?
And thou, sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem
Patron of liberty, who more than thou
Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored
Heaven’s awful Monarch? wherefore, but in hope
To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?
But mark what I arreed thee now, Avant;
Fly neither whence thou fledst! If from this hour
Within these hallowed limits thou appear,
Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained,
And seal thee so, as henceforth not to scorn
The facile gates of Hell too slightly barred.
So threatened he; but Satan to no threats
Gave heed, but waxing more in rage replied.
Then when I am thy captive talk of chains,
Proud limitary Cherub! but ere then
Far heavier load thyself expect to feel
From my prevailing arm, though Heaven’s King
Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers,
Us’d to the yoke, drawest his triumphant wheels
In progress through the road of Heaven star-paved.
While thus he spake, the angelick squadron bright
Turned fiery red, sharpening in mooned horns
Their phalanx, and began to hem him round
With ported spears, as thick as when a field
Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind
Sways them; the careful plowman doubting stands,
Left on the threshing floor his hopeless sheaves
Prove chaff. On the other side, Satan, alarmed,
Collecting all his might, dilated stood,
Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved:
His stature reached the sky, and on his crest
Sat Horrour plumed; nor wanted in his grasp
What seemed both spear and shield: Now dreadful deeds
Might have ensued, nor only Paradise
In this commotion, but the starry cope
Of Heaven perhaps, or all the elements
At least had gone to wrack, disturbed and torn
With violence of this conflict, had not soon
The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,
Hung forth in Heaven his golden scales, yet seen
Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion sign,
Wherein all things created first he weighed,
The pendulous round earth with balanced air
In counterpoise, now ponders all events,
Battles and realms: In these he put two weights,
The sequel each of parting and of fight:
The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam,
Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend.
Satan, I know thy strength, and thou knowest mine;
Neither our own, but given: What folly then
To boast what arms can do? since thine no more
Than Heaven permits, nor mine, though doubled now
To trample thee as mire: For proof look up,
And read thy lot in yon celestial sign;
Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,
If thou resist. The Fiend looked up, and knew
His mounted scale aloft: Nor more; but fled
Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
- Paradise Lost Book IV. Authored by : John Milton. Provided by : translation credited to Joseph Raben of Queens College, NY. Located at : https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26/pg26.txt . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
- Image of Satan. Authored by : Gustave Dore. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GustaveDoreParadiseLostSatanProfile.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright


12.9: Unit H- The Patient’s Environment
Beds should be made on a daily basis, usually in the morning after providing morning care. Having clean, dry sheets promotes comfort, prevents skin breakdown, and helps to promote a sense of well-being for the patient. Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides should always ensure linens are wrinkle-free as this helps to prevent skin breakdown and pressure sore formation. Linens should be changed when they are wet, soiled, or if the patient requests. The Care Plan will direct Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides as to how often linens should be changed.For patients who are bedridden, Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides will have to make the bed or change the linens while the patient is in the bed. This is called “Making an Occupied Bed” and instructions are provided on how to do this in this section. While making an occupied bed, patients are turned to the opposite side the HHA/PCA is working.


11.8: Groundwater
INTRODUCTION
Although this may seem surprising, water beneath the ground is commonplace. Usually groundwater travels slowly and silently beneath the surface, but in some locations it bubbles to the surface at springs. The products of erosion and deposition by groundwater were described in the Erosion and Deposition chapter.
GROUNDWATER
Groundwater is the largest reservoir of liquid fresh water on Earth and is found in aquifers , porous rock and sediment with water in between. Water is attracted to the soil particles and capillary action , which describes how water moves through a porous media, moves water from wet soil to dry areas.
Aquifers are found at different depths. Some are just below the surface and some are found much deeper below the land surface. A region may have more than one aquifer beneath it and even most deserts are above aquifers. The source region for an aquifer beneath a desert is likely to be far from where the aquifer is located; for example, it may be in a mountain area.
The amount of water that is available to enter groundwater in a region is influenced by the local climate, the slope of the land, the type of rock found at the surface, the vegetation cover, land use in the area, and water retention, which is the amount of water that remains in the ground. More water goes into the ground where there is a lot of rain, flat land, porous rock, exposed soil, and where water is not already filling the soil and rock.
The residence time of water in a groundwater aquifer can be from minutes to thousands of years. Groundwater is often called “fossil water” because it has remained in the ground for so long, often since the end of the ice ages.
AQUIFERS
Features of an Aquifer
To be a good aquifer, the rock in the aquifer must have good:
- porosity: small spaces between grains
- permeability: connections between pores
This animation shows porosity and permeability. The water droplets are found in the pores between the sediment grains, which is porosity. When the water can travel between ores, that’s permeability.
To reach an aquifer, surface water infiltrates downward into the ground through tiny spaces or pores in the rock. The water travels down through the permeable rock until it reaches a layer that does not have pores; this rock is impermeable (figure 1). This impermeable rock layer forms the base of the aquifer. The upper surface where the groundwater reaches is the water table .
Figure 1. Groundwater is found beneath the solid surface. Notice that the water table roughly mirrors the slope of the land’s surface. A well penetrates the water table.
The Water Table
For a groundwater aquifer to contain the same amount of water, the amount of recharge must equal the amount of discharge. What are the likely sources of recharge? What are the likely sources of discharge?
In wet regions, streams are fed by groundwater; the surface of the stream is the top of the water table (figure 2). In dry regions, water seeps down from the stream into the aquifer. These streams are often dry much of the year. Water leaves a groundwater reservoir in streams or springs. People take water from aquifers, too.
Figure 2. The top of the stream is the top of the water table. The stream feeds the aquifer.
What happens to the water table when there is a lot of rainfall? What happens when there is a drought? Although groundwater levels do not rise and fall as rapidly as at the surface, over time the water table will rise during wet periods and fall during droughts.
One of the most interesting, but extremely atypical types of aquifers is found in Florida. Although aquifers are very rarely underground rivers, in Florida water has dissolved the limestone so that streams travel underground and above ground (figure 3).
Figure 3. In Florida, groundwater is sometimes not underground.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What skill does this content help you develop?
- What are the key topics covered in this content?
- How can the content in this section help you demonstrate mastery of a specific skill?
- What questions do you have about this content?
Contributors and Attributions
-
Original content from Kimberly Schulte (Columbia Basin College) and supplemented by Lumen Learning . The content on this page is copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.


2.13: The Causes of Depression (depressive disorders)
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Depression, like other mental illnesses, is probably caused by a combination of biological, environmental, and social factors, but the exact causes are not yet known. For years, scientists thought that low levels of certain neurotransmitters (such as serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine) in the brain caused depression. However, scientists now believe that the interplay of factors leading to depression is much more complex. Genetic causes have been suggested from family studies that have shown that between 20 and 50 percent of children and adolescents with depression have a family history of depression and that children of depressed parents are more than three times as likely as children with nondepressed parents to experience a depressive disorder. Abnormal endocrine function, specifically of the hypothalamus or pituitary, may play a role in causing depression. Other risk factors for depressive disorders in youths include stress, cigarette smoking, loss of a parent, the breakup of a romantic relationship, attention disorders, learning disorders, abuse, neglect, and other trauma including experiencing a natural disaster.


8.2: Benign Disorders of the Breast
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Explain the signs and symptoms, diagnosis and management, and nursing care of fibrocystic changes in the breast
- Explain the signs and symptoms, diagnosis and management, and nursing care of fibroadenomas in the breast
- Explain the signs and symptoms, diagnosis and management, and nursing care of nonlactating mastitis
- Explain the signs and symptoms, diagnosis and management, and nursing care of intraductal papilloma
A common fear of people experiencing a change in their breasts is that they have cancer, especially because some of those changes mimic symptoms of breast cancer. While it is always advisable for a person with breast abnormalities to be examined, many benign diseases also cause the same symptoms. In fact, these benign conditions are more common than breast cancer (Breastcancer.org, 2022a). One study estimates that 50 percent of women over age 30 have breast pain , or mastalgia , and fibrocystic changes (Stachs et al., 2019).
The term benign breast changes encompasses several different breast conditions. It describes noncancerous conditions, including trauma, breast pain, infection, skin change s, nipple discharge , and tumors. These changes are often associated with fluctuations in estrogen, which may explain why they are more common in people of childbearing age. In most cases, benign breast changes resolve on their own or are easily treated, but a few may increase the future risk of breast cancer.
Fibrocystic Breast Changes
Changes in either or both breasts that can cause lumpiness, or nodularity, or pain in the affected breast(s) are called fibrocystic breast changes (Figure 8.2). They represent the most common benign breast disease in persons assigned female at birth between 20 and 50 years of age (Chen et al., 2018; Gopalani et al., 2020).
Several hypotheses exist to explain the development of these changes, but they are most commonly a result of cyclic hormonal changes associated with a person’s menstrual cycle . Other proposed etiologies include:
-
other hormonal imbalances, such as:
- “progesterone deficiency in luteal phase,
- estrogen excess,
- change in estrogen/progesterone ratio,
- differences in sensitivity and expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors,
- alterations in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion, and
- androgen deficiency.” (Yadav et al., 2020, p. 31)
- excess consumption of or withdrawal from caffeine and nicotine
- increased dietary fat intake (Yadav et al., 2020)
Other symptoms that may accompany these changes include:
- fullness or heaviness in the breast
- tenderness, usually in the upper, outer quadrant
- the presence of palpable, well-differentiated, and movable cysts
- nipple discharge
These symptoms tend to come and go, typically getting worse the week before a menstrual period and getting better about a week after the period.
Diagnosis and Management
Fibrocystic breast changes are diagnosed after a careful history and clinical breast exam. Some providers will also order a mammogram or sonogram to determine if fibrocystic changes are present. The health-care provider will palpate the breast tissue to feel evidence of thickening of the glandular tissue, called fibrosis , which will feel like firm or ropy tissue underneath the skin. The provider will also note any round and fluid-filled sacs (cysts) that can be felt in the breast tissue. If a cyst or mass is palpated, a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound , and/or biopsy will be performed as needed. If the cyst is found to contain fluid, the fluid will be aspirated and sent for pathologic examination. If the cyst is solid, a fine needle aspiration will be performed, and the cells sent for pathologic examination. Core biopsy may be needed if a larger sample is required for analysis.
Fibrocystic breast changes usually require only conservative management, and the provider will recommend a “watch and wait” approach after diagnosis is confirmed. The patient will be instructed to return to the office for routine examinations to ensure that the lump or cyst has not grown or changed. In some cases, oral contraceptives can improve fibrocystic breast changes, but some people report a worsening of symptoms. Rarely, the provider may recommend surgical removal of the cyst or lump, usually only in cases where it is causing significant discomfort or distress to the patient or if there are multiple lumps or nodules.
Nursing Care
Nursing care centers on providing education about fibrocystic breast changes to the patient, as well as offering reassurance and support if the patient is expressing anxiety. The nurse can also suggest strategies to reduce discomfort:
- Use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( NSAID s), such as ibuprofen (Motrin) .
- Reduce caffeine consumption.
- Reduce nicotine and alcohol usage.
- Wear a supportive bra.
- Use heating pads.
- Apply topical vitamin E oil.
The nurse should reinforce that it may take trying a few different strategies before finding what works for the patient.
Fibroadenomas
A painless, solid, noncancerous tumor found in the breast tissue is called a fibroadenoma . They are most common solid tumor s of the breast. They can occur in people of all ages but are most common in those between 14 and 35 years old (Ajmal et al., 2022). Fibroadenomas are less common in postmenopausal people, perhaps because of decreased estrogen stimulation (Ajmal et al., 2022). Just as the etiology of fibrocystic changes is not certain, researchers are not clear on what causes fibroadenomas to develop, but it is hypothesized that they may be related to hormonal receptivity in the breast tissue. However, a key difference between fibrocystic cysts and fibroadenomas is that fibroadenomas do not change in size during the menstrual cycle. Instead, they tend to stay constant in size or grow slowly with time. However, fibroadenomas may enlarge with pregnancy and decrease in size after menopause.
In most cases, fibroadenomas do not increase a person’s risk for breast cancer. However, one type of fibroadenoma, called a complex fibroadenoma , may slightly increase breast cancer risk (El-Essawy et al., 2020). Patients should be advised on ongoing follow-up and be aware of any changes to the lump or their breasts.
The primary symptom of a fibroadenoma is a small painless lump in the breast tissue, usually less than 2.5 cm in diameter (Breastcancer.org, 2022b). They are usually solitary lumps, meaning they are found one at a time; however, some people do develop multiple fibroadenomas or fibroadenomas in both breasts. These tumors are typically well defined, round, and rubbery in consistency (Figure 8.3). They are usually easy to move in the tissue. While the tumors don’t cause pain, some people do experience tenderness at certain points in their menstrual cycle.
Breast Changes after Menopause
The hormonal changes associated with perimenopause and menopause affect not only the menstrual cycle but the breast tissue as well. The decline in estrogen causes connective tissue in the breasts to lose elasticity and hydration, causing the breasts to shrink and lose shape, and contributing to a sagging appearance. In addition, there is a decline in glandular tissue and an increase in fatty tissue of the breasts (North American Menopause Society, 2023). However, a person who is taking hormonal therapy may not experience these changes due to the supplementation of estrogen and progesterone.
Diagnosis and Management
Fibroadenomas are diagnosed based on the clinical exam and possibly a biopsy. A detailed medical history and family history are important because risk factors for fibroadenoma and breast cancer are very similar: person’s age and family history of breast cancer; negative risk factors are also similar: later age at menarche and multiparity (Li et al., 2018). Additional testing will usually be ordered to confirm the diagnosis. The most common types of testing for the breasts are mammograms, ultrasound exams, and biopsies:
- Mammography: Fibroadenomas appear as distinct growths with smooth, round borders.
- Ultrasonography: Ultrasound imaging of the breast helps to distinguish fluid-filled cysts from solid structures, like fibroadenomas. Fibroadenomas appear as round, well-defined masses that are hypoechogenic (decreased response to the ultrasound waves, producing a dark gray image).
- Biopsy : Biopsy is often performed in people over 30 years of age to definitively confirm the diagnosis. A small sample of the tumor is taken either by fine needle aspiration (FNA) or by core biopsy using ultrasound guidance.
People under the age of 30 years may just need “watchful waiting” to monitor for signs that the tumor is getting larger or changing. Ongoing visits with the provider may also be needed.
In most cases, fibroadenomas do not need any further treatment and will disappear over time. However, fibroadenomas can increase the risk of developing breast cancer by 74 percent (Li et al., 2018). The health-care provider may recommend removal through lumpectomy or excisional biopsy. Cryoablation , using a cryoprobe inserted into the tumor to freeze and destroy the tumor cells, is an alternative to surgery.
Nursing Care
Nursing care for the patient with a fibroadenoma will depend on the patient and their clinical situation but centers on education and support. Reassurance may be especially crucial for a patient who is anxious or nervous that they have breast cancer. The nurse should also stress the need to comply with instructions for follow-up care. The nurse may also review strategies and techniques such as self-breast exam to increase the patient’s awareness of their own breast tissue and potential changes.
If a patient is to have surgical removal of the fibroadenoma, nursing care occurs preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively. Table 8.1 describes nursing care during all phases of a surgical lumpectomy.
| Stage | Nursing Care |
|---|---|
| Preoperative care |
|
| Intraoperative care |
|
| Postoperative care |
|
Nonlactation Mastitis
Inflammation of the breast tissue in a non–breast-feeding person, which may or may not occur with an infection, is called nonlactation mastitis . Mastitis most commonly occurs during breast-feeding; however, it is possible for patients to develop this infection even while not lactating, known as nonlactational infectious mastitis (NLIM). This infection can be caused by several organisms, though most are caused by species of staphylococci (Costa Morais Oliveira et al., 2021). The two forms of NLIM predominantly affect younger people:
- Periductal mastitis (PDM) : PDM, or mammary ductal ectasia , is a chronic inflammation of the breast tissue that also causes dilated mammary ducts with thickened walls; plasma cell infiltration; leakage of fluid into the surrounding tissue, leading to inflammation and fat necrosis; and sometimes the formation of an abscess (Figure 8.4). PDM is associated with obesity, smoking, and diabetes mellitus (Bajaj, 2020). PDM presents as pain or redness in the skin of the breast, nipple inversion, greenish nipple discharge, and a possible fever (Bajaj, 2020).
- Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) : IGM is a rare chronic inflammatory condition of the breast tissue. It is noncancerous and most commonly affects women of childbearing age. However, the symptoms and presentation closely mimic those of breast cancer, which can complicate diagnosis and treatment. The exact cause of IGM is not known, but several possibilities are thought to increase the risk for this condition: reaction to oral contraceptives, infection, autoimmune or immunologic response, pregnancy, breast-feeding, hyperprolactinemia, galactorrhea, and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (Sarkar et al., 2023). IGM presents as a well-defined, hard lump of the breast, along with nipple inversion, peau d’orange appearance of the skin (Figure 8.5), and ulceration and fistula of the breast tissue (Sarkar et al., 2023).
Diagnosis and Management
Because nonlactational mastitis can mimic the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, careful evaluation and diagnosis are crucial. Diagnosis begins with assessing the clinical presentation, including a thorough history and physical exam. Further imaging may be ordered, such as ultrasound , mammography , or magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ). However, mammography can be extremely painful in a patient with an abscess, and some types of lesions, particularly IGM, may be indistinguishable from breast cancer (Sarkar et al., 2023).
Fine needle aspiration is not usually indicated in routine cases of mastitis, but it may be indicated in patients with a complicated or atypical presentation or to confirm a suspected abscess. Any drainage from the nipple or aspirate should also be sent for pathologic study and culture and sensitivity tests to determine the presence of infection and guide antibiotic treatment. Other types of tissue biopsy, such as incisional or excisional biopsy and core needle biopsy, can be used to distinguish between granulomatous inflammation, infection, and cancer (Bajaj, 2020).
Once the diagnosis of NILM is confirmed, medical treatment may include:
- antibiotics based on the culture and sensitivity results
- pain medication if needed
- surgical incision and drainage of an abscess if present
- corticosteroid s if IGM is diagnosed
- hospitalization, which is rarely necessary but may be indicated if signs of sepsis are present, if the infection does not respond to treatment and continues to progress, or if the patient is clinically unstable
Mastitis, if untreated, can lead to significant complications, including formation of large or extensive fistulas, bacteremia and sepsis, and recurrent infection or infections at extramammary sites. Rarely, mastitis and abscess can lead to death, particularly if the infection is poorly treated or not treated at all (Sakar et al., 2023).
Nursing Care
In addition to implementing medical management as ordered by the provider, the nurse can assist the patient by suggesting comfort measures to help alleviate pain and promote healing. These may include:
- applying heat or warm compresses to the affected area
- applying cold packs to the affected area
- having lymphatic drainage performed
- wearing a supportive bra
- sleeping on the unaffected side
- using breast pads to contain leakage or drainage
Patient education may also be needed about the importance of follow-up care, signs and symptoms to report to the provider, smoking cessation (if needed), and how to take any prescribed medications, including completing the entire course of antibiotics and reviewing side effects and drug interactions.
Watch this video providing patient education for a fine needle biopsy of the breast to learn effective ways to prepare the patient for what to expect during a biopsy.
Intraductal Papilloma
A benign tumor that grows inside the milk ducts of the breasts is called an intraductal papilloma . These tumors are wart-like and made of fibrous tissue, gland tissue, and blood vessels (Figure 8.6). An individual, single tumor that grows close to the nipple in the larger milk ducts is called a solitary papilloma (American Cancer Society, 2022b). These solitary papillomas can cause an unusual bloody or clear nipple discharge. Patients may present to the office due to feeling a lump (sometimes painful) next to or behind the nipple. Papillomas found in the smaller milk ducts farther from the nipple are called multiple papillomas and do not produce nipple discharge.
Diagnosis and Management
When a patient has symptoms of nipple discharge, the health-care provider will order a thyroid and prolactin level to confirm the discharge is not due to another cause. A mammogram or ultrasound of the breast is also ordered for breast masses with nipple discharge. A ductogram can be performed to investigate nipple discharge. Dye is injected into the leaking duct, and an x-ray is taken to determine if a papilloma is present and causing the nipple discharge. A breast biopsy can be done to determine the actual diagnosis of papilloma. In larger, painful papillomas, surgery can be performed to remove the tumor.
Nursing Care
Nursing care of these patients consists of routine postsurgical care if a biopsy or papilloma removal is performed. The nurse instructs the patient to keep the dressing clean and dry. Nurses must also provide reassurance and support. These patients may have a great deal of anxiety and fear of having breast cancer. Nurses can provide reassurance that the tumor is benign and no cancer was found.


5.12.3: Figuring for Yourself
Figuring for Yourself
What is the wavelength of the carrier wave of a campus radio station, broadcasting at a frequency of 97.2 MHz (million cycles per second or million hertz)?
42.
What is the frequency of a red laser beam, with a wavelength of 670 nm, which your astronomy instructor might use to point to slides during a lecture on galaxies?
43.
You go to a dance club to forget how hard your astronomy midterm was. What is the frequency of a wave of ultraviolet light coming from a blacklight in the club, if its wavelength is 150 nm?
44.
What is the energy of the photon with the frequency you calculated in Exercise 5.43?
45.
If the emitted infrared radiation from Pluto, has a wavelength of maximum intensity at 75,000 nm, what is the temperature of Pluto assuming it follows Wien’s law?
46.
What is the temperature of a star whose maximum light is emitted at a wavelength of 290 nm?


2.6: Multiplying Polynomial Expressions
In this section we will focus on multiplying polynomial together. We will begin by using properties of exponents to multiply together single term expressions and build upon this knowledge to multiply any polynomials together.
Multiplying Monomials
Since monomials are algebraic expressions, we can use the properties of exponents to multiply monomials together.
Simplify:
- \((3x^2)(−4x^3)\)
- \((\frac{5}{6}x^3y)(12xy^2)\)
- Solution
-
-
\(\begin{array} {ll} {} &{(3x^2)(−4x^3)} \\ {\text{Use the Commutative Property to rearrange the terms.}} &{3·(−4)·x^2·x^3} \\ {\text{}} &{−12x^5} \\ \end{array} \)
- \(\begin{array} {ll} {} &{(\frac{5}{6}x^3y)(12xy^2)} \\ {\text{Use the Commutative Property to rearrange the terms.}} &{\frac{5}{6}·12·x^3·x·y·y^2} \\ {\text{Multiply.}} &{10x^4y^3} \\ \end{array} \)
-
\(\begin{array} {ll} {} &{(3x^2)(−4x^3)} \\ {\text{Use the Commutative Property to rearrange the terms.}} &{3·(−4)·x^2·x^3} \\ {\text{}} &{−12x^5} \\ \end{array} \)
Simplify:
- \((5y^7)(−7y^4)\)
- \((25a^4b^3)(15ab^3)\)
- Answer
-
- \(−35y^{11}\)
- \(375a^5b^6\)
Multiplying a Polynomial by a Monomial
Multiplying a polynomial by a monomial is really just applying the Distributive Property.
Simplify:
- \(−2y(4y^2+3y−5)\)
- \(3x^3y(x^2−8xy+y^2)\)
- Solution
-
1. Distribute. \(-2 y \cdot 4 y^2+(-2 y) \cdot 3 y-(-2 y) \cdot 5 \) Multiply. \(-8y^3-6y^2+10y \) 2. \(3x^3y(x^2−8xy+y^2\) Distribute. \(3x^3y⋅x^2+(3x^3y)⋅(−8xy)+(3x^3y)⋅y^2\)
Multiply. \(3x^5y−24x^4y^2+3x^3y^3\)
Simplify:
- \(-3y(5y^2+8y−7)\)
- \(−6a^3b(3a^2−2ab+6b^2)\)
- Answer
-
- \(−15y^3−24y^2+21y\)
- \(−18a^5b+12a^4b^2−36a^3b^3\)
Multiplying a Binomial by a Binomial
Just like there are different ways to represent multiplication of numbers, there are several methods that can be used to multiply a binomial times a binomial. We will start by using the Distributive Property.
Simplify:
- \((y+5)(y+8)\)
- \((4y+3)(2y−5)\)
- Solution
-
1. Distribute (y+8). y( y+8 ) + 5( y+8 ) Distribute again. \( y^2+8 y+5 y+40 \) Combine like terms. \( y^2+13 y+40 \) 2. \((4 y+3)(2 y-5) \) Distribute. \( 4 y(2 y-5)+3(2 y-5) \) Distribute again. \( 8 y^2-20 y+6 y-15 \) Combine like terms. \( 8 y^2-14 y-15 \)
Simplify:
- \((x+8)(x+9)\)
- \((3c+4)(5c−2)\)
- Answer
-
- \(x^2+17x+72\)
- \(15c^2+14c−8\)
If you multiply binomials often enough you may notice a pattern. Notice that the first term in the result is the product of the first terms in each binomial. The second and third terms are the product of multiplying the two outer terms and then the two inner terms. And the last term results from multiplying the two last terms,
We abbreviate “First, Outer, Inner, Last” as FOIL. The letters stand for ‘First, Outer, Inner, Last’. We use this as another method of multiplying binomials. The word FOIL is easy to remember and ensures we find all four products.
Let’s multiply \((x+3)(x+7)\) using both methods.
We summarize the steps of the FOIL method below. The FOIL method only applies to multiplying binomials, not other polynomials!
The figure shows how to use the FOIL method to multiply two binomials. The example is the quantity a plus b in parentheses times the quantity c plus d in parentheses. The numbers a and c are labeled first and the numbers b and d are labeled last. The numbers b and c are labeled inner and the numbers a and d are labeled outer. A note on the side of the expression tells you to Say it as you multiply! FOIL First Outer Inner Last. The directions are then given in numbered steps. Step 1. Multiply the First terms. Step 2. Multiply the Outer terms. Step 3. Multiply the Inner terms. Step 4. Multiply the Last Terms. Step 5. Combine like terms when possible.
When you multiply by the FOIL method, drawing the lines can help your brain focus on the pattern and make it easier to apply.
Now we will do an example where we use the FOIL pattern to multiply two binomials.
Simplify:
- \((y−7)(y+4)\)
- \((4x+3)(2x−5)\)
- Solution
-
-
Simplify:
- \((b−3)(b+6)\)
- \((4y+5)(4y−10)\)
- Answer
-
- \(b^2+3b−18\)
- \(16y^2−20y−50\)
The final products in the last example were trinomials because we could combine the two middle terms. This is not always the case.
Simplify:
- \((n^2+4)(n−1)\)
- \((3pq+5)(6pq−11)\)
- Solution
-
1. \( \left(n^2+4\right)(n-1) \) Step 1. Multiply the First terms. Step 2. Multiply the Outer terms. Step 3. Multiply the Inner terms. Step 4. Multiply the Last terms. Step 5. Combine like terms—there are none. \( n^3-n^2+4 n-4 \) 2. \( (3 p q+5)(6 p q-11) \) Step 1. Multiply the First terms. Step 2. Multiply the Outer terms. Step 3. Multiply the Inner terms. Step 4. Multiply the Last terms. Step 5. Combine like terms. \( 18 p^2 q^2-3 p q-55 \)
Simplify:
- \((x^2+6)(x−8)\)
- \((2ab+5)(4ab−4)\)
- Answer
-
- \(x^3−8x^2+6x−48\)
- \(8a^2b^2+12ab−20\)
The FOIL method is usually the quickest method for multiplying two binomials, but it only works for binomials. You can use the Distributive Property to find the product of any two polynomials. Another method that works for all polynomials is the Vertical Method. It is very much like the method you use to multiply whole numbers. Look carefully at this example of multiplying two-digit numbers.
Now we’ll apply this same method to multiply two binomials.
Simplify using the Vertical Method: \((3y−1)(2y−6)\)
- Solution
-
It does not matter which binomial goes on the top.
\( 3y − 1\)
\( \times 2y - 6\)Multiply 3 y− 1 by −6. \(-18y + 6\) partial product Multiply 3 y− 1 by 2y. \( 6y 2 - 2y\) partial product \( 6 y^2-20 y+6 \) product This figure has three columns. In the middle column is the product of two binomials, 3y minus 1 and 2y minus 6.
Multiply 3y−1 by −6.
Multiply 3y−1 by 2y.
Add like terms.Notice the partial products are the same as the terms in the FOIL method.
Simplify using the Vertical Method: \((5m−7)(3m−6)\)
- Answer
-
\(15m^2−51m+42\)
We have now used three methods for multiplying binomials. Be sure to practice each method, and try to decide which one you prefer. The methods are listed here all together, to help you remember them.
To multiply binomials, use the:
- Distributive Property
- FOIL Method
- Vertical Method
Multiplying a Polynomial by a Polynomial
We have multiplied monomials by monomials, monomials by polynomials, and binomials by binomials. Now we’re ready to multiply a polynomial by a polynomial. Remember, FOIL will not work in this case, but we can use either the Distributive Property or the Vertical Method.
Simplify \((b+3)(2b^2−5b+8)\) using:
- the Distributive Property
- the Vertical Method.
- Solution
-
1. \( (b+3)\left(2 b^2-5 b+8\right)\) Distribute. \( b\left(2 b^2-5 b+8\right)+3\left(2 b^2-5 b+8\right)\) Multiply. \( 2 b^3-5 b^2+8 b+6 b^2-15 b+24\) Combine like terms. \( 2 b^3+b^2-7 b+24\) - 2. It is easier to put the polynomial with fewer terms on the bottom because we get fewer partial products this way.
-
Multiply \((2b^2−5b+8)\) by 3. \(\;\;\; 6 b^2-15b+24\) Multiply \((2b^2−5b+8)\) by \(b\ \( 2 b^3-5 b^2+8 b\) Add like terms. \( 2 b^3+b^2-7 b+24 \)
Simplify \((y−3)(y^2−5y+2)\) using
- the Distributive Property
- the Vertical Method.
- Answer
-
\(y^3−8y^2+17y−6\)
We have now seen two methods you can use to multiply a polynomial by a polynomial. After you practice each method, you’ll probably find you prefer one way over the other. We list both methods are listed here, for easy reference.
To multiply a trinomial by a binomial, use the:
- Distributive Property or
- Vertical Method
Multiplying Special Products
Mathematicians like to look for patterns that will make their work easier. A good example of this is squaring binomials. While you can always get the product by writing the binomial twice and multiplying them, there is less work to do if you learn to use a pattern. Let’s start by looking at three examples and look for a pattern.
Look at these results. Do you see any patterns?
What about the number of terms? In each example we squared a binomial and the result was a trinomial.
\[(a+b)^2=\text{___}+\text{___}+\text{___} \nonumber\]
Now look at the first term in each result. Where did it come from?
The first term is the product of the first terms of each binomial. Since the binomials are identical, it is just the square of the first term!
\[(a+b)^2=a^2+\text{___}+\text{___} \nonumber\]
To get the first term of the product, square the first term.
Where did the last term come from? Look at the examples and find the pattern.
The last term is the product of the last terms, which is the square of the last term.
\[(a+b)^2=\text{___}+\text{___}+b^2 \nonumber\]
To get the last term of the product, square the last term.
Finally, look at the middle term . Notice it came from adding the “outer” and the “inner” terms—which are both the same! So the middle term is double the product of the two terms of the binomial.
\[(a+b)^2=\text{___}+2ab+\text{___} \nonumber\]
\[(a−b)^2=\text{___}−2ab+\text{___} \nonumber\]
To get the middle term of the product, multiply the terms and double their product.
Putting it all together:
If a and b are real numbers,
To square a binomial, square the first term, square the last term, double their product. The trinomial we get from squaring a binomial is called a perfect square trinomial .
Simplify:
- \((x+5)^2\)
- \((2x−3y)^2\)
- Solution
-
1. Square the first term. Square the last term. Double their product. Simplify. 2. Use the pattern. Simplify.
Simplify:
- \((x+9)^2\)
- \((2c−d)^2\)
- Answer
-
- \(x^2+18x+81\)
- \(4c^2−4cd+d^2\)
We just saw a pattern for squaring binomials that we can use to make multiplying some binomials easier. Similarly, there is a pattern for another product of binomials. But before we get to it, we need to introduce some vocabulary.
A pair of binomials that each have the same first term and the same last term, but one is a sum and one is a difference is called a conjugate pair and is of the form \((a−b)\), \((a+b)\).
A conjugate pair is two binomials of the form
\[(a−b), (a+b). \nonumber\]
The pair of binomials each have the same first term and the same last term, but one binomial is a sum and the other is a difference.
There is a nice pattern for finding the product of conjugates. You could, of course, simply FOIL to get the product, but using the pattern makes your work easier. Let’s look for the pattern by using FOIL to multiply some conjugate pairs.
What do you observe about the products?
The product of the two binomials is also a binomial! Most of the products resulting from FOIL have been trinomials.
Each first term is the product of the first terms of the binomials, and since they are identical it is the square of the first term.
\[(a+b)(a−b)=a^2−\text{___} \nonumber\]
To get the first term, square the first term.
The last term came from multiplying the last terms, the square of the last term.
\[(a+b)(a−b)=a^2−b^2 \nonumber\]
To get the last term, square the last term .
Why is there no middle term? Notice the two middle terms you get from FOIL combine to 0 in every case, the result of one addition and one subtraction.
The product of conjugates is always of the form \(a^2−b^2\). This is called a difference of squares .
This leads to the pattern:
If a and b are real numbers,
The product is called a difference of squares.
To multiply conjugates, square the first term, square the last term, write it as a difference of squares .
Simplify using the product of conjugates pattern:
- \((2x+5)(2x−5)\)
- \((5m−9n)(5m+9n)\)
- Solution
-
Are the binomials conjugates? It is the product of conjugates. Square the first term, 2x.2x. Square the last term, 5.5. Simplify. The product is a difference of squares. This fits the pattern. Use the pattern. Simplify.
Simplify:
- \((6x+5)(6x−5)\)
- \((4p^2−7q^3)(4p^2+7q^3)\)
- Answer
-
- \(36x^2−25\)
- \(16p^4−49q^6\)
We just developed special product patterns for Binomial Squares and for the Product of Conjugates. The products look similar, so it is important to recognize when it is appropriate to use each of these patterns and to notice how they differ. Look at the two patterns together and note their similarities and differences.
| Binomial Squares | Product of Conjugates |
|---|---|
| \((a+b)^2=a^2+2ab+b^2\) | \((a−b)(a+b)=a^2−b^2\) |
| \((a−b)^2=a^2−2ab+b^2\) | |
| • Squaring a binomial | • Multiplying conjugates |
| • Product is a trinomial | • Product is a binomial. |
| • Inner and outer terms with FOIL are the same. | • Inner and outer terms with FOIL are opposites. |
| • Middle term is double the product of the terms | • There is no middle term. |
Choose the appropriate pattern and use it to find the product:
- \((2x−3)(2x+3)\)
- \((5x−8)^2\)
- \((6m+7)^2\)
- \((5x−6)(6x+5)\)
- Solution
-
- \((2x−3)(2x+3)\)
These are conjugates. They have the same first numbers, and the same last numbers, and one binomial is a sum and the other is a difference. It fits the Product of Conjugates pattern.
Use the pattern. Simplify. - \((8x−5)^2\)
We are asked to square a binomial. It fits the binomial squares pattern.
Use the pattern. Simplify. - \((6m+7)^2\)
Again, we will square a binomial so we use the binomial squares pattern.
Use the pattern. Simplify. - \((5x−6)(6x+5)\)
This product does not fit the patterns, so we will use FOIL.
\(\begin{array} {ll} {} &{(5x−6)(6x+5)} \\ {\text{Use FOIL.}} & {30x^2+25x−36x−30} \\ {\text{Simplify.}} & {30x^2−11x−30} \\ \end{array}\)
Choose the appropriate pattern and use it to find the product:
- \((9b−2)(2b+9)\)
- \((9p−4)^2\)
- \((4r−3)(4r+3)\)
- \((7y+1)^2\)
- Answer
-
- FOIL; \(18b^2+77b−18\)
- Binomial Squares; \(81p^2−72p+16\)
- Product of Conjugates; \(16r^2−9\)
- Binomial Squares; \(49y^2+14y+1\)


6.4: Nucleic Acids
Structure of RNA and DNA
DNA is an acronym (rather than a chemical formula) for d eoxyribo n ucleic a cid. It stores the genetic information for an organism and also passes that information to the next generation. RNA is r ibo n ucleic a cid and it is used as a template for the production of proteins based on the genetic information. The similarity between the names ribonucleic acid and deoxy ribonucleic acid reveals a similarity of their structures. We will first examine the similarities, followed by the differences.
Both DNA and RNA have backbones made of alternating sugar and phosphate groups. In the diagram of DNA below, the phosphate groups are highlighted in yellow and they are bonded to the sugar groups highlighted in orange. Notice that these form a chain or polymer down the left and right sides of the image.
Credit: DNA chemical structure by Madeleine Price Ball.
Connected to the backbone at each sugar group are bases. The four bases in the picture above can be grouped into two categories: adenine (A) and guanine (G) have a double ring structure whereas thymine (T) and cytosine (C) have a single ring structure. All of the bases have several N - H bonds and can participate in hydrogen bonding (there are also polar C=O groups on some of the bases). This hydrogen bonding holds the two strands of DNA together. Specifically, A and T always H-bond with one another (sharing two H-bonds) and G and C always H-bond with one another (3 H-bonds). Because of differences in their structures, other pairings of these four bases are not possible.
There are three differences between the structures of DNA and RNA:
-
The sugars in the backbone of DNA and RNA differ by one oxygen atom. The deoxy- prefix in DNA indicates that the sugar is like ribose, but with one less oxygen atom.
-
DNA is double stranded but RNA contains only a single strand
-
In addition to the bases adenine (A), guanine (G), and cytosine (C) which are found in both DNA and RNA, DNA contains the base thymine (T) whereas RNA contains uracil (U).
Processes Involving DNA and RNA
DNA replicates itself within cells (makes another copy of itself). In addition, DNA is used as a template for the synthesis of mRNA which is used as a template for the creation of proteins. So, the main purpose of DNA in your body is to store the information that is ultimately used to make the proteins that serve a wide variety of functions throughout the body.


2.2: The Pre-Revolutionary Period and the Roots of the American Political Tradition
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Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Identify the origins of the core values in American political thought, including ideas regarding representational government
- Summarize Great Britain’s actions leading to the American Revolution
American political ideas regarding liberty and self-government did not suddenly emerge full-blown at the moment the colonists declared their independence from Britain. The varied strands of what became the American republic had many roots, reaching far back in time and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Indeed, it was not new ideas but old ones that led the colonists to revolt and form a new nation.
Political Thought in the American Colonies
The beliefs and attitudes that led to the call for independence had long been an important part of colonial life. Of all the political thinkers who influenced American beliefs about government, the most important is surely John Locke (Figure 2.2). The most significant contributions of Locke, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, were his ideas regarding the relationship between government and natural rights, which were believed to be God-given rights to life, liberty, and property.
Locke was not the first Englishman to suggest that people had rights. The British government had recognized its duty to protect the lives, liberties, and property of English citizens long before the settling of its North American colonies. In 1215, King John signed Magna Carta—a promise to his subjects that he and future monarchs would refrain from certain actions that harmed, or had the potential to harm, the people of England. Prominent in Magna Carta’s many provisions are protections for life, liberty, and property. For example, one of the document’s most famous clauses promises, “No freemen shall be taken, imprisoned . . . or in any way destroyed . . . except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” Although it took a long time for modern ideas regarding due process to form, this clause lays the foundation for the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. While Magna Carta was intended to grant protections only to the English barons who were in revolt against King John in 1215, by the time of the American Revolution, English subjects, both in England and in North America, had come to regard the document as a cornerstone of liberty for men of all stations—a right that had been recognized by King John I in 1215, but the people had actually possessed long before then.
The rights protected by Magna Carta had been granted by the king, and, in theory, a future king or queen could take them away. The natural rights Locke described, however, had been granted by God and thus could never be abolished by human beings, even royal ones, or by the institutions they created.
So committed were the British to the protection of these natural rights that when the royal Stuart dynasty began to intrude upon them in the seventeenth century, Parliament removed King James II, already disliked because he was Roman Catholic, in the Glorious Revolution and invited his Protestant daughter and her husband to rule the nation. Before offering the throne to William and Mary, however, Parliament passed the English Bill of Rights in 1689. A bill of rights is a list of the liberties and protections possessed by a nation’s citizens. The English Bill of Rights, heavily influenced by Locke’s ideas, enumerated the rights of English citizens and explicitly guaranteed rights to life, liberty, and property. This document would profoundly influence the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
American colonists also shared Locke’s concept of property rights. According to Locke, anyone who invested labor in the commons —the land, forests, water, animals, and other parts of nature that were free for the taking—might take as much of these as needed, by cutting trees, for example, or building a fence around a field. The only restriction was that no one could take so much that others were deprived of their right to take from the commons as well. In the colonists’ eyes, all free white males should have the right to acquire property, and once it had been acquired, government had the duty to protect it. (The rights of women remained greatly limited for many more years.)
Perhaps the most important of Locke’s ideas that influenced the British settlers of North America were those regarding the origins and purpose of government. Most Europeans of the time believed the institution of monarchy had been created by God, and kings and queens had been divinely appointed to rule. Locke, however, theorized that human beings, not God, had created government. People sacrificed a small portion of their freedom and consented to be ruled in exchange for the government’s protection of their lives, liberty, and property. Locke called this implicit agreement between a people and their government the social contract. Should government deprive people of their rights by abusing the power given to it, the contract was broken and the people were no longer bound by its terms. The people could thus withdraw their consent to obey and form another government for their protection.
The belief that government should not deprive people of their liberties and should be restricted in its power over citizens’ lives was an important factor in the controversial decision by the American colonies to declare independence from England in 1776. For Locke, withdrawing consent to be ruled by an established government and forming a new one meant replacing one monarch with another. For those colonists intent on rebelling, however, it meant establishing a new nation and creating a new government, one that would be greatly limited in the power it could exercise over the people.
The desire to limit the power of government is closely related to the belief that people should govern themselves. This core tenet of American political thought was rooted in a variety of traditions. First, the British government did allow for a degree of self-government. Laws were made by Parliament, and property-owning males were allowed to vote for representatives to Parliament. Thus, Americans were accustomed to the idea of representative government from the beginning. For instance, Virginia established its House of Burgesses in 1619. Upon their arrival in North America a year later, the English Separatists who settled the Plymouth Colony, commonly known as the Pilgrims, promptly authored the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to govern themselves according to the laws created by the male voters of the colony. 1 By the eighteenth century, all the colonies had established legislatures to which men were elected to make the laws for their fellow colonists. When American colonists felt that this longstanding tradition of representative self-government was threatened by the actions of Parliament and the King, the American Revolution began.
The American Revolution
The American Revolution began when a small and vocal group of colonists became convinced the king and Parliament were abusing them and depriving them of their rights. By 1776, they had been living under the rule of the British government for more than a century, and England had long treated the thirteen colonies with a degree of benign neglect. Each colony had established its own legislature. Taxes imposed by England were low, and property ownership was more widespread than in England. People readily proclaimed their loyalty to the king. For the most part, American colonists were proud to be British citizens and had no desire to form an independent nation.
All this began to change in 1763 when the Seven Years War between Great Britain and France came to an end, and Great Britain gained control of most of the French territory in North America. The colonists had fought on behalf of Britain, and many colonists expected that after the war they would be allowed to settle on land west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been taken from France. However, their hopes were not realized. Hoping to prevent conflict with Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley, Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade the colonists to purchase land or settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. 2
To pay its debts from the war and maintain the troops it left behind to protect the colonies, the British government had to take new measures to raise revenue. Among the acts passed by Parliament were laws requiring American colonists to pay British merchants with gold and silver instead of paper currency and a mandate that suspected smugglers be tried in vice-admiralty courts, without jury trials. What angered the colonists most of all, however, was the imposition of direct taxes: taxes imposed on individuals instead of on transactions.
Because the colonists had not consented to direct taxation, their primary objection was that it reduced their status as free men. The right of the people or their representatives to consent to taxation was enshrined in both Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. Taxes were imposed by the House of Commons, one of the two houses of the British Parliament. The North American colonists, however, were not allowed to elect representatives to that body. In their eyes, taxation by representatives they had not voted for was a denial of their rights. Members of the House of Commons and people living in England had difficulty understanding this argument. All British subjects had to obey the laws passed by Parliament, including the requirement to pay taxes. Those who were not allowed to vote, such as women and blacks, were considered to have virtual representation in the British legislature; representatives elected by those who could vote made laws on behalf of those who could not. Many colonists, however, maintained that anything except direct representation was a violation of their rights as English subjects.
The first such tax to draw the ire of colonists was the Stamp Act, passed in 1765, which required that almost all paper goods, such as diplomas, land deeds, contracts, and newspapers, have revenue stamps placed on them. The outcry was so great that the new tax was quickly withdrawn, but its repeal was soon followed by a series of other tax acts, such as the Townshend Acts(1767), which imposed taxes on many everyday objects such as glass, tea, and paint.
The taxes imposed by the Townshend Acts were as poorly received by the colonists as the Stamp Act had been. The Massachusetts legislature sent a petition to the king asking for relief from the taxes and requested that other colonies join in a boycott of British manufactured goods. British officials threatened to suspend the legislatures of colonies that engaged in a boycott and, in response to a request for help from Boston’s customs collector, sent a warship to the city in 1768. A few months later, British troops arrived, and on the evening of March 5, 1770, an altercation erupted outside the customs house. Shots rang out as the soldiers fired into the crowd (Figure 2.3). Several people were hit; three died immediately. Britain had taxed the colonists without their consent. Now, British soldiers had taken colonists’ lives.
Following this event, later known as the Boston Massacre, resistance to British rule grew, especially in the colony of Massachusetts. In December 1773, a group of Boston men boarded a ship in Boston harbor and threw its cargo of tea, owned by the British East India Company, into the water to protest British policies, including the granting of a monopoly on tea to the British East India Company, which many colonial merchants resented. 3 This act of defiance became known as the Boston Tea Party. Today, many who do not agree with the positions of the Democratic or the Republican Party have organized themselves into an oppositional group dubbed the Tea Party (Figure 2.4).
In the early months of 1774, Parliament responded to this latest act of colonial defiance by passing a series of laws called the Coercive Acts, intended to punish Boston for leading resistance to British rule and to restore order in the colonies. These acts virtually abolished town meetings in Massachusetts and otherwise interfered with the colony’s ability to govern itself. This assault on Massachusetts and its economy enraged people throughout the colonies, and delegates from all the colonies except Georgia formed the First Continental Congress to create a unified opposition to Great Britain. Among other things, members of the institution developed a declaration of rights and grievances.
In May 1775, delegates met again in the Second Continental Congress. By this time, war with Great Britain had already begun, following skirmishes between colonial militiamen and British troops at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. Congress drafted a Declaration of Causes explaining the colonies’ reasons for rebellion. On July 2, 1776, Congress declared American independence from Britain and two days later signed the Declaration of Independence.
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence officially proclaimed the colonies’ separation from Britain. In it, Jefferson eloquently laid out the reasons for rebellion. God, he wrote, had given everyone the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. People had created governments to protect these rights and consented to be governed by them so long as government functioned as intended. However, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” Britain had deprived the colonists of their rights. The king had “establish[ed] . . . an absolute Tyranny over these States.” Just as their English forebears had removed King James II from the throne in 1689, the colonists now wished to establish a new rule.
Jefferson then proceeded to list the many ways in which the British monarch had abused his power and failed in his duties to his subjects. The king, Jefferson charged, had taxed the colonists without the consent of their elected representatives, interfered with their trade, denied them the right to trial by jury, and deprived them of their right to self-government. Such intrusions on their rights could not be tolerated. With their signing of the Declaration of Independence (Figure 2.5), the founders of the United States committed themselves to the creation of a new kind of government.
Link to Learning
Thomas Jefferson explains in the Declaration of Independence why many colonists felt the need to form a new nation. His evocation of the natural rights of man and his list of grievances against the king also served as the model for the Declaration of Sentiments that was written in 1848 in favor of giving women in the United States rights equal to those of men. View both documents and compare.