steepholm

"For years now the scientists have been promising us every morning a new miracle, a new element, a new metal, guaranteeing to warm us with copper discs immersed in water, to feed us with nothing, to kill us at no expense whatever and on a grand scale, to keep us alive indefinitely, to make iron out of heaven knows what. And all this fantastic scientific humbugging leads to membership of the Institut, to decorations, to influence, to stipends, to the respect of serious people. In the meantime the cost of living rises, doubles, trebles; there is a shortage of raw materials; even death makes no progress - as we saw at Sebastopol, where men cut each other to ribbons - and the cheapest goods are still the worst goods in the world." The Brothers Goncourt - 7th Jan, 1857.

Thanks to The Assassin's Cloak - a Christmas present from