Gawen Smith Flea Circus of 1586

The most intriguing item in Moffett's catalogue of mechanical minutiae is an automated flea circus, "made so by art, that art imparted life" by one Gawen Smith in 1586. Like the "exility" of Callicrates' ants or the twitching creatures inside the Schuttelkastenm, Smith's performing fleas act "life things that were alive": they "skippe" and appear to "let out bloud" from a "secret scheathe" Ref 125. Fashioning tiny chains and locks, the locksmith harnesses the fleas to a miniature coach which they pull like tiny horses.

From "Humanism, Machinery, and Renaissance Literature" by PhD Jessica Wolfe
The references have not been followed up so the accuracy of this article has not been confirmed.

Gawen Smith was obviously some kind of inventor as there are other references to him to be found on the web:

"In 1580, Queen Elizabeth I refused to grant Gawen Smith the right to build a lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands. The Queen rejected the petition because she considered the application was solely for financial gain and not for the well-being of the mariner. It would appear from contemporary House of Lords documents that the Master of Trinity House, Henry Church, objected to the Smith proposal because of the applicant's involvement with wrecking." from E Bertrand - Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2006

More London Peculiars by Peter Ashley

I spotted More London Peculiars by Peter Ashley in bookshop on Charring Cross Road. It's the second book in a series about London, "London Peculiars: Curiosities in a Capital City" being the first of course. I have yet to check with the author if he's stumbled across any flea circus performers in his research.

UK Flea Circus Supplier

The Flea Circus Research Library has just learnt of a UK based Flea Circus Builder.

Theatrics Shop 4 Props have been making and supplying Flea Circuses to the UK and Ireland for over 5 years from their base in Carmarthenshire. Their self contained circus comes with 5 acts in a smart suitcase and a hand painted backdrop.

The fleas:
parade chariots around the ring,
fly on the trapeze,
balance on the high wire,
dive into a pool of water,
an for a finale, shoot from a cannon

Teaching tricks to spiders

Inspired by the work of Flea Circuses the chaps a BayBlab are planning on Teaching tricks to spiders

Fleas in the news

Water Flea Massacre
The vegan society has commented that they don't approve of Ecover's testing of detergents and cleaning supplies on Water Fleas. The result is that Ecover's products will no longer be able to put "vegan" on their marketing or products.
http://magicstatistics.com/2007/08/12/greenies-split-over-animal-tests-on-fleas/

Collar Thieves
Thieves have stolen $3000 worth of flea collars from an animal hospital in Oregon.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070811/NEWS/708110320/1001

Prairie Dog Plague!
A lab at Northern Arizona University has confirmed that two dead prairie dogs found near Flagstaff in Coconino County, Arizona were infected with bubonic plague. The disease is quite common in the area but no human cases have been seen since 1996.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/196051.php

Washington DC it's a Flea Circus

Many times people have commented that there's a flea circus in Washington referring to presumably the industriousness of the politicians. However, later this month there is a real flea circus arriving in Washington DC. The Acme Miniature Flea Circus will be at the Palace of Wonders on Sunday August 26, 2007 at 4pm and 8 pm.

MORE INFO: http://www.palaceofwonders.com
MORE INFO: http://www.trainedfleas.com

Puces Industrieuses

Thanks to La Bibliothèque nationale de France I now have yet more translation work to complete. They have sent me a copy of L. Bertolotto's "Histoire De La Puce avec Notes et Observations" with an introduction by Mon. Barillon, a lawyer. There appears to be some interesting additional notes here that are not in the London version that I have from the British Library