Fleas, and Other Things

Greater fleas have lesser fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,
And lesser fleas have little 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.

Augustus De Morgan

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.

Jonathan Swift

Bigger whorls have little whorls
That feed on their velocity,
And little whorls have lesser whorls
And so on to viscosity.

Lewis F. Richardson