Scintillas. These are the bedrock of any brain, being the basic material from which thoughts can develop: thought that have yet to be thought, so to speak. Just as a butterfly can evolve from a caterpillar, so a scintilla can become a thought. Invisible at first, scintillas abound throughout the Zamonian atmosphere. Once they have penetrated the brain [I can recommend my scintilla shower as a means of accelerating that process], they assume the form of plump little worms that vegetate in the cerebral cortex. They occur in varies colours. Many are red, many others are ochre, golden yellow, copper-coloured, silver, green, grey, violet, pale brown or dark blue, but all have a metallic sheen. Scintillas are, so to speak, the currency of every cerebral community, the basis of every idea, and th