Menu
Categories
He Was Only Talking About Parasite Food Chains of Course
August 23, 2017 Economic Illiteracy

Among the many things in life that I have never said, “man, I regret spending time on THAT!” is reading Jonathan Swift. Here’s a delightful little ditty:

Big fleas have little fleas

Upon their backs to bite ’em

And little fleas have lesser fleas

And so ad infinitum

Actually, the ditty above is from mathematician Augustus De Morgan and is based on Swift’s original from “On Poetry: A Rhapsody,” which I very much like better:

The vermin only teaze and pinch
Their foes superior by an inch.
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite ’em,
And so proceed ad infinitum.

Leave a Reply
*