but still contorted from having been dropped alive into boiling water, surrounded by a ring of satellite shell-fish, of animalcules, crabs, shrimps, and mussels, it had the appearance of a ceramic dish by Bernard Palissy." Palissy's life and work are described in A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book. Palissy serves as an inspiration to the potter Benedict Fludd and his apprentice, Philip Warren. Palissy figures as one of nineteen exemplary heroes in a series written by Uruguayan author Horacio Quiroga that was first published in 1927 in the popular Argentine weekly Caras y Caretas. Author Léonard N. Amico has produced a recent English language biography. In the chapter on 'Shells', Gaston Bachelard, in his poetics of space, describes in some detail Palissy's description of a natural fortress. It is constructed on the principle of a shell, with rough exterior and smooth interior in the form of a citadel. (Poetics of Space: Beacon Press. Ed 1994. XI. pp 127–132) See also Lead-glazed earthenware Majolica References External links The Admirable Discourses of Bernard Palissy, in French De la Nature des Eaux et Fonteines – full digital facsimile at Linda Hall Library Œuvres de Bernard Palissy (Paris, 1777) 1580s deaths French geologists Soil scientists French potters Year of birth uncertain Prisoners of the Bastille