Siphonaptera (poem)
Siphonaptera is a rhyme by the mathematician Augustus De Morgan,[1] named for the biological order of the flea.
Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad infinitum.
And the great fleas, themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.[2]
The first two lines derive from part of Jonathan Swift's long satirical poem On Poetry: a Rhapsody (1733):
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.
Thus every poet, in his kind,
Is bit by him that comes behind[3]
Lewis F. Richardson adapted the poem to meteorology, specifically referencing fractal wind patterns:[4]
Gene V. Glass quoted an anonymous adaptation of the poem to educational measurement:[5]
Big criteria have little criteria,
Upon their backs to bite ‘em;
And little criteria, have littler still,
And so on ad infinitum.
References
- ^ Teskey, Gordon (2015). The Poetry of John Milton. Harvard University Press. p. 480. ISBN 978-0674416642.
- ^ De Morgan, Augustus (1915). Smith, David Eugene (ed.). A Budget of Paradoxes. Vol. II (2nd ed.). p. 191.
- ^ Swift, Jonathan (1733). On Poetry: a Rhapsody. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
- ^ "Big whorls, little whorls". Nature Physics. 12 (3): 197–197. 1 March 2016. doi:10.1038/nphys3697. Retrieved 10 September 2017 – via www.nature.com.
- ^ Standards and Criteria, Journal of Educational Measurement, 1978