Is Less More? or Further Explorations of the Minutiae*

In Primo Levi’s book ‘The Periodic Table’ a series of short stories inspired by the chemical elements, there is a story called Carbon. In it he recounts the journey of a carbon atom as it flows from one existence into another.

I therefore procured a copy from the reserve section of the local library, in order to re-read it.

This story made a great impression on me when I first read it because of its beautifully succinct and profound ending, and now once again I am moved by it, for its clear message of interconnectedness and impermanence.

In an attempt to capture the story’s essence, I have here, briefly recounted the atom’s odyssey.

Limestone struck from the rock-face by pickaxe enters a kiln is roasted and becomes part of the air. It is inhaled by a falcon, expelled and travels with the wind. Then it joins the leaf of a vine, enters the sap, the fruit and is turned into wine. From here it is drunk and remains inside the human being who swallowed it until being breathed out. Transported again by wind it comes to rest in the structure of a Cedar tree. Eaten by a woodworm and transformed into part of the insect’s used carapace, it falls to the forest floor and decomposes back to gas form. Eventually, after a number of years, it finds itself in a glass of milk, which is consumed by the story’s writer. Finally, through the author’s bloodstream, it is absorbed into a nerve cell in the writer’s brain, where it is engaged in the creation of this very story, and

‘…guides this hand of mine to impress on the paper this dot, here, this one.’

Primo Levi, The Periodic Table, 1985

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• All the carbon in the universe was made inside stars
• A diamond is made of pure carbon
• So is graphite
• Most drawing pencils contain graphite not lead
• A pencil will write in zero gravity, upside down, and under water!

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Diamond and graphite are two allotropes of carbon: pure forms of the same element that differ in structure.

* small, precise, or trifling details