Prince Rupert Drop Shatters

Here is another article from the library archives.

Prince Rupert’s Drops in Literature by Clifton Albergotti

Rarely do contemporary scientific discoveries find their way into general literature. Surprisingly, this was not the case in the seventeenth century. During this period many poets, including John Donne, John Milton, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, used telling scientific metaphors to illuminate their poetry. In this article I want to document one such instance, the use of Prince Rupert’S drops in literary imagery.

What is a Prince Rupert Drop?

King Crimson: Prince Rupert Awakes from the album Lizard

A prince rupert awakes
Farewell the temple master’s bells
His kiosk and his black worm seed
Courtship solely of his word
With eden guaranteed.
For now prince rupert’s tears of glass
Make saffron sabbath eyelids bleed
Scar the sacred tablet of wax
On which the lizards feed.

King Crimson Lizard Cover

Here is a paper published in 1890 written by Thomas Chamberlin.

The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses – With this method the dangers of parental affection for a favorite theory can be circumvented.

Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses (PDF)

Thomas Chamberlin, a geologist, was president of the University of Wisconsin at the time this lecture was written. Later he was professor and director of the Walker Museum of the University of Chicago. In 1893 he founded the Journal of Geology.

Here is a classic paper on presentations. A professor at my University put this one in a trade bulletin many moons ago. The technology of presentations changed since then but most of the topic remains the same. PDF download is available at the bottom of this post.

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