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Biology The Unity and Diversity of Life

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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function
Multiple Choice

1. How successful is the technique of cloning adult mammals by implanting DNA into donor eggs?
a. Few embryos survive until birth, and of those that do, many have serious health problems.
b. About half of the embryos survive until birth, but many of these die before adulthood.
c. Of the embryos that survive until birth, health outcomes are predictable.
d. Most embryos survive, but are not able to reproduce as adults.
e. Most embryos survive and lead healthy adult lives.
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.1 A Hero Dog’s Golden Clones
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.10 - Examine the potential advantages and disadvantages of cloning
organisms.

2. One current goal of cloning is to ____.


a. duplicate certain humans
b. create new species
c. promote evolution
d. experiment with alien DNA
e. increase the numbers of endangered animals
ANSWER: e
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.10 - Examine the potential advantages and disadvantages of cloning
organisms.

3. Which structures have the same length, shape, and centromere location?
a. karyotypes
b. histones
c. bacteriophages
d. nucleosomes
e. autosome pairs
ANSWER: e
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.4 Eukaryotic Chromosomes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8. 5 - Determine the structure of DNA.

4. How many pairs of autosomes are in a typical human karyotype?


a. 8
b. 22
c. 23
d. 46
e. 92
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

REFERENCES: 8.4 Eukaryotic Chromosomes


LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.6 - Examine the role played by DNA sequence in the diversity of
organisms.

5. Friedrich Miescher is credited with _____.


a. proposing DNA as the hereditary material
b. finding that proteins are the physical basis of inheritance
c. defining the laws of inheritance
d. being the first person to describe and extract DNA
e. determining that proteins are composed of unlimited combinations of twenty amino acids
ANSWER: d
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

6. Fred Griffith's experiment, in which he used two strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, demonstrated that _____.
a. pathogenic bacteria function differently in mice than in other organisms
b. harmless bacteria can become transformed into disease-causing bacteria by a bacteria transformation factor
c. pure DNA extracted from disease-causing bacteria transformed harmless strains into killer strains
d. dead cells lose their genetic information
e. DNA is a protein rich in nitrogen and phosphorus
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

Figure 8.3
Answer the following questions about Griffith’s experiments involving Streptococcus pneumoniae.
7. If an injection to the mouse contains live S strain Streptococcus pneumonia, ____.
a. the mouse will die
b. live R strain will be detected in the mouse's blood
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

c. the mouse will live


d. no live S strain will be detected in the mouse's blood
e. the live S strain bacteria will lose their pathogenicity
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply | Evaluate
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.3
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

8. If an injection to the mouse contains live R strain Streptococcus pneumonia, _____.


a. the mouse will die
b. live S strain will be detected in the mouse's blood
c. the mouse will live
d. no live R strain will be detected in the mouse's blood
e. the live R strain bacteria will develop pathogenicity
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply | Evaluate
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.3
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

9. If an injection to the mouse contains live R strain and heat-killed S strain Streptococcus pneumonia, ____.
a. the mouse will live
b. the mouse will became fatally ill and live S strain bacteria will be detected in its blood
c. the mouse's blood will contain live pathogenic R strain bacteria
d. the dead S strain bacteria will transform to live R strain bacteria
e. DNA from the live R strain bacteria will revive the dead S strain bacteria
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply | Evaluate
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.3
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

10. Extracts of pathogenic bacteria can transform harmless bacteria to harmful bacteria unless ____ enzymes are added to
the extract.
a. protein transfer
b. mRNA-degrading
c. tRNA-degrading
d. DNA-degrading
e. nucleic transfer
ANSWER: d
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function


LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

11. Which scientist(s) identified the transforming substance involved in changing harmless (R) bacteria to lethal (S)
bacteria?
a. Avery and McCarty
b. Griffith
c. Chargaff
d. Hershey and Chase
e. Pauling
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

Figure 8.4
12. The accompanying figure represents the research of which scientist(s)?
a. Delbrück
b. Avery and McCarty
c. Chagraff
d. Luria
e. Hershey and Chase
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

ANSWER: e
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.4
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

13. What is the concept illustrated by the experiment in the accompanying figure?
a. Protein is not the encoding material.
b. Protein cannot enter the host cell.
c. Protein renatures due to radiation.
d. Protein is composed of subunits with phosphate.
e. Protein is composed of subunits with sulfur.
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply | Evaluate
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.4
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

14. The Hershey and Chase experiments, in which radioactive phosphorus (32P) and radioactive sulfur (35S) were used,
demonstrated that ____.
a. DNA labeled with 35S and proteins labeled with 32P can be traced over the course of an experiment
b. DNA labeled with 32P is transferred from the bacteriophage to the virus
c. proteins labeled with 35S become deactivated and unable to be transferred
d. bacteriophages transfer their DNA, not their coat proteins, into their hosts
e. DNA may be the hereditary material, although bacteriophages transfer both DNA and proteins into their hosts
ANSWER: d
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply | Evaluate
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

15. If a mixture of bacteriophages, some labeled with radioactive sulfur and others labeled with radioactive phosphorus, is
placed in a bacterial culture, the bacteria will eventually contain ____.
a. primarily radioactive sulfur
b. primarily radioactive phosphorus
c. both radioactive sulfur and phosphorus
d. neither radioactive sulfur nor radioactive phosphorus
e. complete viruses with radioactive sulfur coats
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

information.

16. The experiments that clearly distinguished DNA and not protein as the hereditary material were conducted by _____.
a. Pauling
b. Hershey and Chase
c. Griffith
d. Watson and Crick
e. Avery
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

17. James Watson and Francis Crick ____.


a. were both English researchers working at Cambridge University
b. performed elegant experiments in DNA chemistry
c. constructed an accurate model of DNA’s double helix structure
d. performed experiments that convinced scientists that DNA is a double-stranded molecule
e. used x-ray diffraction in all of their experiments
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

18. DNA contains all of the following nitrogen-containing bases EXCEPT ____.
a. adenine
b. uracil
c. guanine
d. adenine
e. thymine
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Analyze
REFERENCES: The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

19. Hydrogen bonding is strongest between ____.


a. adenine and guanine
b. uracil and thymine
c. guanine and uracil
d. adenine and thymine
e. cytosine and guanine
ANSWER: e
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

20. ____ discovered the basis for the ____ rule, which states that the amounts of adenine and thymine are identical, as are
the amounts of cytosine and guanine.
a. Avery; base-pair
b. Griffith, double helix
c. Chargaff; base-pair
d. Chase; double helix
e. Pauling; base-pair
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

21. Which technique did Rosalind Franklin use to determine many aspects of DNA’s structure?
a. transformation
b. transmission electron microscopy
c. density-gradient centrifugation
d. x-ray crystallography
e. chromatography
ANSWER: d
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

22. Rosalind Franklin created the first ____.


a. clear x-ray diffraction image of DNA is it occurs in cells
b. model of DNA’s nucleotide bases
c. experiment to test whether base-pairs differ among species
d. hypothesis surrounding the nature of a hereditary molecule
e. results proving that bases exist on the outside of a helix
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

23. Which discovery was determined about DNA from x-ray diffraction data?
a. DNA is uniform in length.
b. DNA is short and narrow.
c. DNA has a repeating pattern.
d. DNA molecules are flat.
e. DNA molecules are round.
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

24. Each DNA double helix has a backbone that consists of alternating ____.
a. covalent and ionic bonds
b. nitrogen-containing bases
c. hydrogen bonds
d. sugar and phosphate molecules
e. covalent and hydrogen bonds
ANSWER: d
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

25. Which statement is true of DNA’s structure?


a. The hydrogen bonding of cytosine to guanine is an example of complementary base pairing.
b. In DNA, adenine always base pairs with guanine and cytosine always base pairs with thymine.
c. Each of the four nucleotides in a DNA molecule has the same nitrogen-containing base.
d. When adenine base pairs with thymine, they are linked by three hydrogen bonds.
e. All four bases in DNA can be found in equal quantities.
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

26. In a 3-D double helix model of DNA, the center consists of ____.
a. deoxyribose sugars
b. hydrogen bonds
c. nucleotide base pairs
d. phosphate groups
e. sugar–phosphate backbones
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

27. DNA replication is ____.


a. redundant
b. semiconservative
c. progressive
d. conservative
e. repetitive
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication

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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

28. DNA polymerase assembles new strands in a ____.


a. 5' to 3' direction only
b. 5' to 3' direction building one strand and a 3' to 5' direction building the other stand
c. 5' to 3' direction building the first half of a strand and a 3' to 5' direction building the second half of a strand
d. 3' to 5' direction building the first half of a strand and a 5' to 3' direction building the second half of a strand
e. 3' to 5' direction on the "old" 3' to 5' strand
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

29. The function of helicase enzymes is to ____.


a. break hydrogen bonds and unwind the two strands of the DNA molecule prior to replication
b. rewind the two DNA molecules after replication
c. remove bases that might have been inserted incorrectly
d. seal new short stretches of nucleotides into one continuous strand
e. fragment old DNA that is no longer of use to the cell
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

Figure 8.11.
30. The accompanying figure best illustrates ____.
a. DNA repair
b. semiconservative replication
c. the action of the ligases
d. the binding of initiator proteins
e. DNA hybridization
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
PREFACE NAME: Figure 8.11
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

31. Which base-pairing system is correct?


a. A to G; T to C
b. A to T; G to C
c. A to C; G to T
d. A to T or C; G to C or A
e. A to T or G; G to C or A
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA’s Structure


LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

32. What characteristic of a species refers to having two of each type of chromosome?
a. autosomal
b. karyotype
c. diploid
d. base-paired
e. helical
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Apply
REFERENCES: 8.4 Eukaryotic Chromosomes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.6 - Examine the role played by DNA sequence in the diversity of
organisms.

33. DNA polymerases ____.


a. unwind DNA
b. add new nucleotides to a strand
c. catalyze carbon bonding
d. assemble new strands in both direction
e. repairs DNA
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

34. Franklin's assignment at Cambridge was to investigate the structure of ____.


a. proteins
b. ultraviolet radiation
c. DNA
d. embryonic fluid
e. lipids
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

35. Rosalind Franklin is credited with ____.


a. discovering DNA’s double helical structure
b. discovering DNA
c. first isolating DNA
d. building the first DNA model
e. cloning DNA
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure


LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

36. Which statement is true of embryonic splitting?


a. It never occurs in nature.
b. It involves the genetic contribution of only one parent.
c. It produces immediate differentiation.
d. It is applied in animal husbandry to produce genetically diverse offspring.
e. It produces identical twins.
ANSWER: e
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Analyze
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

37. Which statement is false with regard to mutations?


a. They are always dangerous.
b. They can occur as DNA replication errors.
c. They cannot be repaired after replication.
d. They may become cancerous.
e. They can be passed on to the next generation.
ANSWER: a
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.6 Mutations: Cause and Effect
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.8 - Examine the causes and consequences of mutations in DNA.

38. The accompanying figure represents ____.


a. cloning with a stem cell
b. somatic cell nuclear transfer
c. genetic manipulation of a single gene
d. microsurgical manipulation of a chromosome
e. embryonic cloning
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
PREFACE NAME: Cell
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

39. Which statement is false with regard to adult cell cloning?


a. It involves differentiated cells.
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

b. It occurs with some frequency in nature.


c. It involves rewinding the developmental clock.
d. It involves an egg cell that has had its nucleus removed.
e. It may involve nuclear transfer.
ANSWER: b
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

40. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is used to create human embryos for research purposes in ____.
a. embryo cloning
b. embryo splitting
c. therapeutic cloning
d. artificial twinning
e. stem cell cloning
ANSWER: c
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

Matching

Choose the one most appropriate answer for each.


a. discovered that the hereditary system of one strain of bacteria could be transformed by the hereditary system from
another strain of bacteria
b. first to describe DNA and extract it from cell nuclei
c. discovered that DNA-digesting enzymes prevented bacterial transformation
d. the first to build an accurate model of DNA and to describe it explicitly in a publication
e. the first to demonstrate, through the use of radioactive isotopes, that DNA, not protein, is the genetic material
f. provided two important clues to the structure of DNA; one clue is that A = T and the other is that C = G
g. worked at King’s College at the same time as Franklin
h. obtained excellent x-ray diffraction photographs that suggested that DNA was a long, thin molecule with regularly
repeating units
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

41. Avery and McCarty


ANSWER: c

42. Chargaff
ANSWER: f

43. Franklin
ANSWER: h

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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function
44. Griffith
ANSWER: a

45. Hershey and Chase


ANSWER: e

46. Wilkins
ANSWER: g

47. Miescher
ANSWER: b

48. Watson and Crick


ANSWER: d

Classification. Answer the following questions in reference to the five nucleotides listed below:
a. guanine
b. cytosine
c. pyrimidine
d. thymine
e. uracil
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

49. Erwin Chargaff's data indicates that within a species, the amount of adenine is always equal to the amount of this
nucleotide.
ANSWER: d

50. This nucleotide is not incorporated into the structure of the DNA helix.
ANSWER: e

51. This nucleotide is a double-ring molecule.


ANSWER: a

52. If one chain of a DNA molecule has a purine at a given position, this nucleotide complements it on the other chain.
ANSWER: c

53. Three hydrogen bonds connect guanine to __________ in the DNA molecule.
ANSWER: b

Completion

54. Experiments with bacteria and ____________________ offered solid evidence that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), not
protein, is the hereditary material.
ANSWER: bacteriophages
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

55. A free nucleotide has a five carbon sugar (deoxyribose), ____________________ phosphate group(s), and one of four
nitrogen-containing bases.
ANSWER: one; 1
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

56. DNA is replicated by a process called ____________________.


ANSWER: semiconservative replication
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.3 The Discovery of DNA's Structure
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.5 - Determine the structure of DNA

57. In ____________________, one somatic cell is fused with an enucleated egg.


ANSWER: somatic cell nuclear transfer
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

Essay

58. Consider the Hershey-Chase experiment. Is their choice of a bacteriophage unusual?


ANSWER: At first glance, it is very unusual. Viruses are not considered to be alive, so using a non-living
entity to establish that nucleic acids are the genetic material of life is unusual. On the other
hand, it was established that viruses used the host cell genetic machinery to replicate
themselves, and thus it could be safely assumed their genetic material must resemble the
hosts.
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.2 The Discovery of DNA's Function
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.4 - Examine the experiments that proved that DNA carries hereditary
information.

59. A bacterium undergoes four rounds of replication. How many cells would result, and how many of those cells would
still have part of an original DNA strand from the starting bacterium?
ANSWER: After four rounds of replication there would be 16 cells. Of those 16 cells, only two would
have an original DNA strand.
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Remember
REFERENCES: 8.5 DNA Replication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.7 - Examine the process of DNA replication using a diagram.

60. Does reproductive cloning always involve somatic cell nuclear transfer?
ANSWER: No, there are various reproductive interventions available that produce genetically identical
individuals. One example is embryo splitting which occurs naturally in the case of identical
twins, but can also be done by technicians teasing the embryo apart from an early,
multicellular stage. However, to clone an adult animal, SCNT would be necessary.
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Chapter 08 - DNA Structure and Function

DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand


REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

61. Is it possible to prevent mutations entirely?


ANSWER: No, it is not. DNA polymerase is not perfect and as a result it can introduce mistakes
(mutations) during DNA replication. However, you can reduce the number of mutations
experienced by avoiding undue exposure to ionizing radiation, UV radiation and chemical
carcinogens.
DIFFICULTY: Bloom's: Understand
REFERENCES: 8.7 Cloning Adult Animals
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: UDOL.STES.16.8.9 - Outline the different methods of reproductive cloning.

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apparent, since the question still remained open, whether
Mademoiselle had been his lawful wife. No one knew for certain, and
Madame de Maintenon conceived the ingenious idea of trying to
worm the true state of the case from Ninon, whom she knew had
been summoned to Mademoiselle’s dying bed, feeling persuaded
that Mademoiselle de L’Enclos was acquainted with it. She
accordingly begged her, in a little note very affectionately worded, to
come to Versailles.
Ninon was greatly tempted to reply that if Françoise desired to
speak to her, she might be at the trouble of coming to the rue des
Tournelles. All circumstances taken into account, and the generosity
with which she had treated Françoise’s little ways, it did not appear
to her that she was bound to wait upon the woman, merely because
she had lighted upon the lucky number in life’s lottery. Ninon,
however, was but a daughter of Eve. Curiosity was strong to see
how Madame Louis Quatorze lived in the lordly pleasure-house, and
forthwith she obeyed the summons.
Queen Maria Théresa’s surroundings and retinue had been
modest enough even to parsimony. Madame Louis Quatorze was
attended by a numerous guard, a train of pages, Swiss door-
keepers, and the rest; while her Court and receptions were as
magnificent as those of the king. Madame took herself very
seriously, and her deportment had become most majestic. To Ninon,
however, she unbent, and was simply the Françoise of old times.
She led her into her own richly furnished private boudoir, adorned
with a curious conglomerate of pictures and statuary, Christian and
pagan, where an enormous, life-sized figure of Christ, in carved
ivory, was neighboured by painted Jupiters and other Olympian
deities, in curiously heterogeneous fashion. There Françoise
embraced Ninon with quite a prodigality of affection. Suddenly,
however, her manner changed; she congealed into gravity and tones
of great solemnity, and Ninon saw the tapestry folds along the wall
quiver slightly. It occurred to her that one only, His Majesty Louis
XIV., could have any possible right to be present in that most private
apartment, and even then she felt the need of putting a strong
restraint upon herself and her foot, to prevent it from bestowing a
kick upon the tapestry. Then the truth began to come out, the
lamentable truth that Madame and the king were greatly perplexed
as to the best mode of dealing with the Duc de Lauzan, whose
possessions, made over to him by the Grande Mademoiselle, those,
that is to say, which he still held, were much wanted for the king’s
children. He had so many, as Madame de Maintenon pointed out.
That, admitted Ninon, was true enough, “but I will engage, you will
not be increasing the number,” she added. “What is the point of the
question?” It was whether Mademoiselle had really married Monsieur
de Lauzun.
The full significance of it all now dawned upon Ninon. Had
Mademoiselle not been his wife, it would be a comparatively simple
matter to compel a revocation of the gifts which the princess had
made him in the course of her life, in order that these should enrich
the children of de Montespan. No consideration was yielded to the
fact that, be Lauzun what he might, the gifts had been tokens of
Mademoiselle’s affection for him. Ninon preferred complete inability
to afford any trustworthy sort of information on this head, and
suggested applying for it to Madame de Fiesque, who might be
better instructed: “but,” continued Ninon, “supposing Mademoiselle
was not his wife, surely to publish the fact, would create a scandal
which His Majesty would consider paying too dear a price for the
estates of Auvergne and St Fargeau. Either she was Lauzun’s
wedded wife or—”
Here the chronicle goes on to relate: Mademoiselle de L’Enclos’
words were interrupted by a tremendous disturbance at the door,
occasioned by an altercation with the guards, of some person
endeavouring to force his way in. The voice was d’Aubigné’s, and
the next instant he reeled in, far gone in a state of intoxication, and
staggering to his sister, he gripped her by the arm and thrust her
back into the chair from which she had risen.
This chronicle goes on to relate a terrible scene, over which, for
the honour of human nature, some kind of veil may be allowed to
hang, lest veracious history has been embroidered by the ample
material fact has afforded. The family differences of private domestic
relations are frequently unedifying; but when it comes to the base
humiliating of a great monarch, one in whose very vices and
mistakes grace and virtue had been apparent, until the widow
Scarron crossed his path, pen may well refrain from detail, and
explain only that the intruder, d’Aubigné, had burst in upon his sister,
to reproach her for her treachery in the matter of inducing him to
enter St Sulpice. Taking advantage of the absence of his mentor and
alter ego, Santeuil, she had contrived to trap him by false promises
and misrepresentation into the hated place. His liberty for one thing,
and of all things prized by d’Aubigné, would not, she had said, be
curtailed; it had, however, been so entirely denied him, that when he
had attempted to leave, he had been unceremoniously “clapped,” as
he phrased it, “into a cellar,” and he had only escaped by wriggling
through an air-grating. To any one possessed of the faintest sense of
humour, the notion of making a monk of any sort of this wild harum-
scarum would have seemed too preposterous; but the sense, always
so lacking in Françoise d’Aubigné, allowed her to indulge in only too
many absurdities whose ending was disastrous; and in any case, the
notion of removing the incommoding one from the taverns and cafés
and other public resorts where he freely gave utterance to his
estimate of Madame Louis Quatorze, and notably of her newly
acquired saintliness, was dominant in her, and to be achieved at any
cost. She earnestly desired his conversion, possibly if only to silence
the hideous music of the ditty, whose refrain he was for ever
chanting in the streets, echoed by so many ribald tongues—
“Tu n’as que les restes,
Toi!
Tu n’as que nos restes!”

Since the chronicle goes on to tell that Louis the king was
concealed behind the tapestry during the interview of Madame and
her old friend Ninon, the appearance of d’Aubigné, with his string of
furious reproach, was of course singularly inopportune; and at last
the king, unable any longer to restrain his wrath, dashed aside the
concealing Gobelins, and white with anger, and his eyes blazing with
indignation, ordered the culprit’s arrest by the guards, and carrying
off to the Bastille. Confounded by the unexpected apparition,
d’Aubigné’s sober sense returned, and he promised everything
required of him with the humblest contrition, adding that if he might
suggest the homely proverb in that august presence, there was
nothing like washing one’s soiled linen at home.
The king’s silence yielded consent, and d’Aubigné was permitted
to depart from his brother-in-law’s presence a free man, on condition
of making St Sulpice his headquarters. It was at least preferable to a
lodging in one of the Bastille towers, he said, but any restraint or
treachery on the part of Françoise, or of Louis, in the way of his
coming and going into what he called that black-beetle trap of St
Sulpice, would be at once signalised. And thus the difficulty was
adjusted, a compromise being effected by appointing a certain Abbé
Madot to shadow the ways of d’Aubigné when he took his walks
abroad.
But for Ninon the malice of her old friend took on virulence, and it
was found later that Françoise charged her with having planned the
scandalous scene, in so far as bringing d’Aubigné into it; that she
had connived at his coming just at that moment. Yet exactly, except
for the king’s concealed presence, what overwhelming harm would
have ensued, is not apparent, and certainly for that situation, Ninon
could not have been responsible. Henceforth all shadow of
friendship between the two women died out, and enmity and
bitterness were to supervene when opportunity should be ripe.
CHAPTER XXIV

The Falling of the Leaves—Gallican Rights—“The Eagle of Meaux”—Condé’s


Funeral Oration—The Abbé Gedouin’s Theory—A Bag of Bones—Marriage
and Sugar-plums—The Valour of Monsieur du Maine—The King’s
Repentance—The next Campaign—La Fontaine and Madame de Sablière—
MM. de Port Royal—The Fate of Madame Guyon—“Mademoiselle Balbien.”

And time passed on—passed on. The brilliant century was in its sere
and yellow leaf, and one of the best and most amiable of the glorious
band, le Nôtre, the gardener par excellence, faded and died, to the
great grief of Louis, who dearly loved his company, and would walk
by his chair in the garden of Versailles, when the invalid’s limbs had
failed him. Ninon keenly felt the loss of the kindly friend, who had
been one of the party to Rome with Santeuil—who had nearly
missed the papal benediction on his hymns, as he always believed,
by his witticisms about the carp. And now the good canon was to die,
victim of a practical joke on the part of the young Duc de Condé, who
amused himself with emptying the contents of his snuff-box into his
guest’s glass of champagne. Unawares, Santeuil drained the glass;
and the hideous concoction produced a fit of such convulsive
sickness, that he died of it. Bitterly enough Condé repented, but that
did not bring back his friend.
About the time that the zenith of Louis’s power was attained, when
his very name was uttered on the bated breath of admiration, hatred
and terror—and the yoke of the widow Scarron had not yet
entangled him—and while the Doge of Genoa was compelled by
Duquesne to sue for mercy at the feet of the French monarch—
accused of complicity with the pirates of the Mediterranean—the
Court of Rome was compelled to yield to the demands of the Church
in France, in the matter of the régale. This right, which had ever
been the strength and mainstay of religious Catholic independence
in France, had fallen in later days somewhat into abeyance; and
when, some nine years earlier, it had been put into active force
again, the pope opposed it. To establish it on a firm footing was the
work of Bossuet, who set forth and substantiated with the bishops of
the dioceses of France the existing constitution of the Gallican
Church under the ruling of the four famous articles: 1. That
ecclesiastical power had no hold upon the temporal government of
princes. 2. That a General Council was superior to the pope. 3. That
the canons could regulate apostolical power and general
ecclesiastical usage. 4. That the judgment of the Sovereign Pontiff is
only infallible after the universal and general consent of the Church.
The pope and the Court of Rome had no choice but finally to
accept these propositions; but unpalatable as they were, they came
between the worse evil threatening Catholic Unity, of a schism such
as it had suffered in England under Elizabeth and Henry.
The splendid gifts of Bossuet place his memory on a lasting and
lofty eminence, as it placed him, living, in distinguished positions,
Bishop of Meaux, preacher at the Louvre, preceptor to the Dauphin.
From his profound theological learning welled forth the splendid
eloquence which thrilled the vast assemblages flocking to drink in his
orations. One of the most magnificent among these was that at the
obsequies of the great Condé, beginning—

“Cast your gaze around; see all that magnificence and piety has
endeavoured to do, to render honour to the hero: titles, inscriptions, vain
records of what no longer exists, the weeping figures around the tomb
and fragile images of a grief which Time, with all the rest, will bear away
with it, columns which appear to lift to high heaven their magnificent
testimony to him who is gone; and nothing is lacking in all this homage
but him to whom it is given.... For me, if it is permitted to join with the
rest in rendering the last duties beside your tomb, O Prince! noble and
worthy subject of our praise and of our regrets, you will live eternally in
my memory. I shall see you always, not in the pride of victory ... but as
you were in those last hours under God’s hand, when His glory was
breaking on you. It is thus I shall see you yet more greatly triumphing
than at Fribourg and at Rocroi.... And in the words of the best-beloved
disciple, I shall give thanks and say—‘The true victory is that which
overcometh the world—even our faith.’”

A noble purity of spirit and deep conviction inspired Bossuet’s


eloquence. His knowledge was limited by his Jesuit training, though
he studied anatomy at a later period, by the king’s desire, in order to
instruct the Dauphin in the science; but with science generally and
physics he was unacquainted. As a Jesuit he was opposed to
Jansenism and the Port-Royalists; but for long the gentle piety of
Fénelon retained the respect and admiration of Bossuet’s more fiery
spirit. Both these great men gave instruction at St Cyr, by the desire
of Madame de Maintenon and the king.
Time must indeed have passed lightly by Ninon; for once again, at
the age of eighty years, she inspired a young abbé, named Gedouin
—a distant relative on the maternal side—with deep fervent
admiration. Ninon at first believed that he was jesting with her, and
rebuked him severely; but it was a very serious matter on his part,
and though she told him of her fourscore years, he declared that it in
no way altered his sentiments. “What of that?” he said; “wit and
beauty know nothing of age,” and the Abbé Gedouin’s pleading,
which was not in vain, terminated Ninon’s last liaison with an
affectionate and endearing friendship. When he was rallied on his
conquest, the abbé’s rejoinder was that—
“Ah, mes amis, lorsqu’une tonne
A contenu d’excellent vin,
Elle garde un parfum divin
Et la lie en est toujours bonne.”

Monsieur de Lauzun, on the other hand, being now over sixty


years old, contracted a marriage with an English girl of sixteen. She
was so fearfully thin, that the Duc de St Simon, who was one of
Mademoiselle de L’Enclos’ cercle, said de Lauzun might as well
have wedded all the bones of the Holy Innocents Cemetery, where
the skulls and bones were piled in pyramids.
St Simon was a delightful conversationalist. He was the son of the
old favourite of Louis XIII. He could be very caustic with his
anecdotes. One night he greatly amused the company with an
account of the marriage of the son of the Grand Dauphin, the little
Duke of Burgundy. He was of the tender age when ordinary and
everyday little boys are occasionally still liable to chastisement by
their elders. The duchess to be, who was still very fond of her doll,
was presented on the occasion by the Queen of England with a very
elegantly trimmed shift, handed to her by the maids of honour on a
magnificently enamelled tray. In this garment she was attired, while
her youthful husband, seated on a footstool, was undressed in the
presence of the king and of all the Court. The bride, being put to bed,
the Duc of Burgundy was conducted in and also put into bed, beside
which the Grand Dauphin then took his seat, while Madame de Lude
took her place beside the young duchess. Then sugar-plums were
offered to the bride and bridegroom, who cracked them up with the
greatest enjoyment. After about a quarter of an hour, the Duc was
taken out of bed again, a proceeding which appeared greatly to
displease him, and he was led, sulking enough, back to the
antechamber, where the Duc de Berry, some two years his junior,
clapping him on the shoulder, told him he was not a bit of a man. “If it
had been me,” he added, “I should have refused to get out of bed.”
The king imposed silence on the little rascal’s rebellious counsel,
and placed the bridegroom back into the hands of his tutors,
declaring that he would not permit him to so much as kiss the tips of
his wife’s fingers, for the next five years to come. “Then, grandpapa,”
demanded the little brother, “why have you let them be married? It is
ridiculous.” It was all certainly something like it.
After that the child was placed for his instruction in the care of the
Abbé de Fénelon, whose rapid advancement at Court had been
attained by his lofty character and talents.
But Louis had far more affection for his illegitimate children than
for these, and aided by Madame de Maintenon’s intrigues, he finally
succeeded in securing a large portion of the heritage of la Grande
Mademoiselle for the Duc du Maine and the Duc du Vendôme; but
the brave spirit of heroes and conquerors he could not endow them
with, for all his desire. It was to no effect that he confided command
to them of his troops in Holland. The Duc du Maine specially
undistinguished himself. Just as the enemy was escaping scot-free,
he found he was hungry, and asked for a cup of bouillon to
strengthen him. “Charge! Charge, Monseigneur!” urged Villeroy’s
messenger, coming to him in a fever of excitement.
“Oh, well, patience,” replied the warrior; “my wing is not in order
yet.”
Finding no sort of response to his repeated messages, Villeroy
went in search himself of the prince, and found him in his tent, at his
confessor’s knees. The first duty of a good Christian, he said, was to
make his peace at such times with Heaven. So the religious
discipline of his governess and stepmother, the widow Scarron and
Madame de Maintenon, had borne fruit. It was of a different flavour
from the prayer of the brave servant of King Charles I.—Sir Edmund
Verney—before Edgehill: “Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be
this day. If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me.” And there was no
battle won or lost that day on the Dutch frontier, and Louis, when
they brought to Versailles news of the enemy’s safe retreat, was at a
loss to understand the situation; for no one cared, or dared, to tell
him the truth, until Lavienne, his valet-de-chambre in chief, in the
days of Louis’s amours, hazarded the observation that, after all,
proverbs could speak falsely, and that “Good blood could lie;” and
then he went on to add the other truths concerning Monsieur du
Maine. In the face of the fulsome praise following in the journals—
which lied as only journals know how—the king was overwhelmed
with grief and chagrin; and, beside himself, he broke his cane in a fit
of anger on the back of one of an unlucky servant, whom he
happened to detect surreptitiously eating a bit of marchpane. This
ebullition, creating the consternation of all the Court, just sitting down
to dinner, brought Madame Louis Quatorze and Père la Chaise upon
the scene. “Parbleu, mon père,” said the king, gradually regaining his
senses, “I have just chastised a wretched creature who greatly
merited it.”
“Ah!” gasped the confessor.
“And I have broken my cane on his back. Have I offended God?”
“No, my son, no,” replied the holy man. “It is merely that the
excitement may be harmful to your precious health.”
Fortunately the cane, being of slenderest rosewood, had easily
snapped.
Before the end of the next campaign, the redoubtable Duc du
Maine was recalled: d’Elbœuf hastened to say to him, making a
profound bow, “Have the goodness, Monseigneur, to inform me
where you propose entering on the next campaign.”
The duke turned, smiling, and extended his hand to d’Elbœuf,
whose ironical tones he had failed to perceive.
“Wherever it is,” added d’Elbœuf, “I should wish to be there.”
“Why?” demanded the duke.
“Because,” replied d’Elbœuf, after a silence, “at least one’s life
would be safe.”
Monsieur du Maine gave a jump, as if he had trodden on a
serpent, and went away without replying, not being better furnished
with wit than he was with valour.
And the autumn leaves of Ninon’s life were ever fast falling around
her. In her Château de Boulogne Madame de la Sablière passed
away, and la Fontaine, finding life a sad thing without her, quickly
followed her.
The Jesuit conception of religious faith, great as were its merits as
originated in the mind of Loyola, theoretically, and in its code drawn
up by his gifted successor, Lainez, had displayed its imperfections in
its practical working, as time passed. This was more apparent in
France even than elsewhere on the Continent; since there papal
authority was tempered by regulations which afforded wider scope to
thoughtful and devout minds ever occupied by the problem of final
salvation and its attainment.
“Two such opposed foes encamp them still
In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will,”

says Friar Lawrence, musing over his “osier cage,” of weeds and
flowers. There had been no time on Christian record that the
question had not exercised theologians, and when it had burnt into
fuller flame, fanned by the ardent soul of Luther, it spread through
Europe and was called the Reformation; but the spirit of it had been
ever present in the Church, and to endeavour to stamp out the
Catholic faith had, in Luther’s earlier days at all events, formed no
part of his desire. Yet scarcely had his doctrines formulated, than the
fanaticism and extravagance of the ignorant and irresponsible seized
upon them, and wrung them out of all size and proportion to fit their
own wild lusts and inclinations, “stumbling on abuse,” striving to
impose their levelling and socialistic views, and establish a
community of goods, and all else in common—even their wives,
though dispensing with clothing as a superfluity and a vanity
displeasing in Heaven’s sight. So Anabaptism ran riot in Germany
under John of Leyden and his disciples; while upon its heels Calvin’s
gloomy and hopeless tenets kept men’s minds seething in doubt and
speculation over grace and free-will, his narrow creed and private
enmity bringing Servetus to hideous and prolonged torture and death
at the stake, for heresy.
Stirred by the revolt of Protestantism on one side, and the claims
of Rome on the other, supported by the Jesuits, speculation gained
increased activity within the pale of the Catholic Church, animated
further by the writings of Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, whose theories
on grace and the efficacy of good works were grounded mainly on
the viâ media, and it was the following of his opinions by the
illustrious students gathered at Port Royal which created the school
of Jansenists that included such names as Fénelon, Pascal, and so
many others, headed by the Abbé Arnauld, whose sister Angélique
was the Superior of the convent of Port Royal, and whose father, the
learned advocate, had been so stern an opponent to the Jesuits as
to have caused their expulsion from France in the reign of Henri IV.
Readmitted later, they found as firm an opponent in his son, who,
when still quite young, wrote a brilliant treatise against the danger of
Jesuit casuistry.
The convent of Port Royal des Champs was situated on the road
from Versailles to Chevreuse, and hard by, in a farmhouse called La
Grange, “Messieurs de Port Royal,” as the Jansenist priests and
students were called, made their home. They had for their friends the
most distinguished men, scholars and poets of the time; Boileau,
Pascal, Racine were of the band. The place itself is now scarcely
more than a memory. It was then, wrote Madame de Sévigné, “Tout
propre à inspirer le désir de faire son salut,” and hither came many a
high-born man and woman of the world to find rest and peace. Now
a broken tourelle or two, the dovecote and a solitary Gothic arch
reflecting in a stagnant pool, are all that remain in the sequestered
valley, of the famous Port Royal, which early in the next century was
destroyed by royal decree, when its glory had departed, following the
foreordained ruling of all mundane achievement; and the
extravagance of the convulsionnaires and later followers of
Jansenism was stamped out by the bull “Unigenitus” against heresy.
Arnauld’s heart was deposited at Port Royal at his death, with the
remains of his mother and sisters. Louis XIV., as ever his wont had
been to genius and intellect, had invited him “to employ his golden
pen in defence of religion;” but that was before the great king came
under the direction of Madame de Maintenon and Père la Chaise.
But that Madame and her Jesuit confessor would long continue to
regard the Port-Royalists with favour was not possible. Intolerance
succeeded to patronage, and Fénelon was deported to Cambrai,
sent afar from his friend, Madame Guyon, whose order of arrest and
incarceration in the Château de Vincennes was issued very shortly
after Mademoiselle de L’Enclos’ interview with Madame Louis
Quatorze in her Versailles sanctum.
In her dismay, Madame Guyon contrived to fly to Ninon, seeking
protection; but it was of no avail. Without a moment’s delay, Ninon
drove to Versailles, and sought an interview with Madame de
Maintenon on behalf of Madame Guyon. The interview was not
accorded. Nanon—the Nanon of Scarron days, but now
“Mademoiselle Balbien”—was delegated to speak with her.
—“Mademoiselle Balbien,” who gave Ninon to understand that she
was to be addressed no longer as “tu” (“thou”), but as “vous” (“you”),
that the question of Madame Guyon could not even be entered upon,
and under threat of being herself again lodged in the Répenties she
was bidden to depart.
Ninon was at first amazed at this strange reception and insolent
behaviour of mistress and maid. But she was not left long in
perplexity, since “Mademoiselle Balbien” permitted the truth to
escape her prim lips, that Madame de Maintenon had credited Ninon
with the design of introducing d’Aubigné into the boudoir in the
middle of that memorable interview, with the intention of disgracing
Madame in the estimation of the king. That Ninon was not made of
the stuff for this, it is almost superfluous to say. Any sins she might
have to answer for, did not include the hypocrisy with which Madame
de Maintenon had clothed herself about, and almost equally
needless is it to repeat that by no possible means the concealed
presence of the king could have been known by any but the two
most immediately concerned. It could be but a matter of their dual
consciousness.
For six years Madame Guyon remained in prison. Monsieur
Fénelon’s Maximes des Saints was condemned by the Court of
Rome, and the bigotry and hypocrisy ruling Versailles swelled daily.
Molière, alas! was no more, to expose the perilous absurdities and
lash them to extinction; but the comedy of La Fausse Prude,
produced some weeks later at the Italiens, was a prodigious
success. The world greatly enjoyed and admired the fitting of the
cap, built upon the framework supplied by one who had befriended
and sheltered under her own roof the forlorn young orphan girl,
Françoise d’Aubigné.
CHAPTER XXV

The Melancholy King—The Portents of the Storm—The Ambition of Madame Louis


Quatorze—The Farrier of Provence—The Ghost in the Wood—Ninon’s
Objection—The King’s Conscience—A Dreary Court—Racine’s Slip of the
Tongue—The Passing of a Great Poet, and a Busy Pen Laid Down.

The disastrous thrall holding Louis XIV. to Madame de Maintenon,


was an endless theme of wonder and speculation among his
subjects. Very few of them ascribed it to pure unadulterated love and
affection for his old wife—for she was his elder by three years—while
Louis himself was now at an age when the enthusiasm of life slows
into some weariness and languor as it recognises the emptiness and
futility of all mundane things. There were times when he was lost in
brooding thought, and he would wander about his splendid galleries
and salons and magnificent gardens, absorbed, if his dull aspect
expressed the inward spirit, in melancholy reflection. The glory had
departed of his earlier ruling, leaving the nation loaded with debt.
The price had to be paid for those brilliant victories of long ago, and
accumulation of debt on the many later reverses cried for settlement.
The provinces had been deeply impoverished by the absenteeism of
their overlords, whose presence the Grand Monarque had for so
many years required to grace Versailles, attired in their silks and
velvets, sweeping their plumed, diamond-aigretted hats to the
polished floors, bowing and crowding to gaze at the sublime process
of His Majesty’s getting up, promenading with the great ladies
among the fountains and bosquets of Trianon, spending the heaven-
bestowed hours in the sweetness of doing nothing but manipulate
their rapier-hangers and snuff-boxes; while Jacques Bonhomme,
away down in Touraine and Perigord and Berri, and where you will in
the length and breadth of fair France, was sweating and starving to
keep those high-born gentlemen supplied with money in their purses
for the card-tables, and to maintain their lackeys and gilded coaches
in the sumptuous style which was no more than Louis required of the
vast throng. It was in its way an unavoidable exaction, since the few
of the nobility who remained on their own estates had done so at the
peril of incurring the severe displeasure of the king, the Sun-King—
Le roi le veut—whose centre was Versailles.
And still the full time was not yet when all this should be changed.
Even for Louis, the absolute reckoning day was but shadowing in.
“After us the deluge”: that prophetic utterance was spoken long after
Louis was borne to his rest in St Dénis, but when the records of his
life tell of those long-brooding, silent pacings amid the grandeur and
treasures of his splendid palace, comes the question if from afar off
there did not sound the murmur of the flood that was to break some
hundred years hence, if in some dim yet certain way the cloud no
bigger than a man’s hand was not apparent to his introspective gaze,
for as yet the domestic misfortunes of his latest years had not
befallen, death had not robbed him of his heir, and the rest dear to
him; but discontent, not unmingled with contempt, seethed round the
proud King of France. How were the mighty fallen, and how great the
political mistake which indissolubly linked the ambitious woman,
clothed about in her new-found meretricious garb of piety, with his
great responsible destiny—Louis, Dieudonné and elect ruler.
Nor did it stop at the secret, sufficiently open and acknowledged,
of his marriage with Scarron’s widow. The fear was well enough
founded that she was moving earth, and if possible all heaven, to be
Queen of France; but righteousness had small part in the endeavour,
and trickery and chicanery failed to prevail to this crowning end upon
the king’s consciousness and conviction. Pride, and the sense of his
irrevocable bondage, mingled with the poison of the hypocritical
devoutness instilled into him by his wife and her confessor, kept him
silently deferential to this woman, spoiled by prosperity; but she
herself says that all her endeavours to amuse him or bring a smile to
his lips, failed. He had—mildly construing the homely proverb—put
off from shore with a person—more or less mentionable—and he
was bound to sail to land with her.
The diablerie at work was untiring, and had many strings, and
there seem, small, if any, question that to the genius of the
Marseilles merchant’s wife, formerly Madame Arnoul, the curious
tale of the Farrier of Provence is due.
From extreme southward of France came this poor man, who said
he was shoemaker to all the horses of his grace, Monsieur
d’Épernon, at his country mansion near Marseilles—to speak to the
king’s Majesty upon a subject concerning him alone.
The major of the guards to whom he explained his wish, told him
such an interview was impossible. A letter of audience was first
required, and that was to be had only with utmost difficulty. Besides,
he added, the king did not receive all the world. The man objected
that he was not all the world. “Quite so,” said the guard. “By whom
are you sent?”
“By Heaven.”
“Ah!”—and all the bodyguard went into fits of laughter at this reply.
The man stoutly insisted, however, that he had most important
matters to disclose to “the Master of ‘Vesàilles,’” as he phrased it. At
this point of the conversation, the Marshal de Torcy, Colbert’s
nephew, happened to come by. Overhearing what had passed, he
directed that this emissary of Heaven should be conducted to the
ministers, just then sitting in council. They, impressed with the
honest and earnest air of the farrier, informed the king of the affair.
Listening with grave attention to their representation, Louis
commanded the man to be brought before him. Alone with the king,
the farrier unfolded his tale. It was fantastic enough. He was
returning, he said, from the duke’s stables, where he had been
shoeing some of the horses—to his own home, in a hamlet situated
not far off, and was passing through a wood. It was night, and quite
dark; but suddenly he found himself enfolded in a brilliant light, and
in the midst of it stood a tall woman, right in his path. She addressed
him by his name, and bade him repair immediately and without an
instant of delay to Versailles, where he was to tell the king that he
had seen the spirit of the dead queen, his wife, and that she, the
ghost of Maria Théresa, commanded him in the name of heaven, to
make public the marriage he had contracted, which hitherto he had
kept secret.
The king objected that the man had probably been the victim of
hallucination. “I thought so too at first,” replied the farrier, “and I sat
down under an elm-tree to collect myself, believing I had been
dreaming; but two days afterwards, as I was passing the same spot,
I again saw the phantom, who threatened all sorts of terrible
misfortunes to me and mine if I did not immediately do what it had
directed.”
Then the king had another doubt; and asked him whether he was
not trying to impose upon him, and had been paid to carry out the
affair.
The man replied that in order for His Majesty to be convinced that
he was no impostor, he should wish him to reply to one question he
had to ask. “Have you,” he went on, when the king willingly
consented to this, “have you ever mentioned to living soul a syllable
about the midnight visit the late queen-mother paid you in the
Château de Ribeauvillé years ago?”
“No,” said Louis, with paling lips, “I never confided it to anyone.”
“Very well; the ghost in the forest bade me remind you of that visit,
if you expressed any doubt of my good faith; and,” added the man,
as the king said it was very strange, “before disappearing, the tall
white woman uttered these words—‘He must obey me now, as he
then obeyed his mother.’”
The king, in an access of dismay and perplexity, sent for the Duc
de Duras, and related to him in confidence what had passed during
the interview with the peasant. The duke, who was an intimate friend
of Ninon, told her the wondrous tale.
It took no time for her to arrive at the conclusion that Madame
Louis Quatorze and her faithful card-divining friend and fortune-teller,
Madame Arnoul, were at the bottom of the business, and under
promise on the duke’s part of inviolable secrecy, she told him of the
adventure in the Vosges and the very conspicuous part she had
played in it, actuated by her enmity towards de Montespan. The
farrier, she did not doubt, was honest enough; but, simple and
credulous, he had been made the tool of the two women—an easy
prey to Madame Arnoul, who, living at Marseilles, had seen him, and
reckoned him up as suitable for her design.
The duke was of opinion that there was no doubt Ninon’s solution
of the mystery was correct, and he added that, this being the case, it
was her duty to inform the king of it—“For who knows,” said Duras,
“that he may not be weak enough to obey the ghost’s behests, and
disgrace himself and his throne in the eye of all Europe and the
universe, by seating the Maintenon upon it.” It was a most serious
matter—most serious.
Ninon, however, shrank from the suggestion. She was a woman of
courage; but recent experience had taught her the lengths of malice
to which her old friend Françoise could go, and she had no mind to
measure weapons with her again. To make clean confession of the
affair to the king, was simply to bring down upon herself all the
thunderbolts of the hatred of the woman whose ingenuity was never
at fault in plausibility, and the finding the way to retain the kings good
graces at no matter what cost to anyone.
Ninon saw a far better plan than sacrificing herself for the
destruction of the scheme. She begged the duke not to compromise
her to the king; but to represent to him the advisability of sending
competent and trusted persons to the Ribeauvillé château,
accompanied by the duke himself, and there to sound and search
the recesses and panelling of the haunted room and the adjacent
one she indicated, and little more would be necessary to prove to His
Majesty that he had been duped.

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