Hermit
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« on: 2002-05-02 13:43:08 » |
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Teaching one's grandmother to suck eggs, or instructing the aged maternal progenitor to extract the embryonic juices of the domesticated fowl through the process of evacuation is splendidly demonstrated in this cartoon, "The Age of Intellect", by George Cruikshank in 1829.
Worth noticing that the toy-basket contains Shakespeare, Halley, Bede, Hume, Gibbon, Flamsted, Milton, Bentley, Boyle, Newton, and Euclid while Theology, Algebra, Bacon, and Locke are on the floor and the table is covered with scientific apparatus (and a copy of Torricelli).
Meanwhile the aged maternal ancestress is reading "Who killed Cock Robin?" (a nursery rhyme).
The dialog reads:
Child: "You see Gran'Ma, before you suck this egg, or, more properly speaking, before you extract the matter contained within this shell by suction; you must make an incision at the apex and a corresponding aperture at the base."
Grandmother: "Aye, dear -- how very clever!! -- They only used to make a hole at each end in my time. -- Well, I declare, they are making improvements in every thing!"
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