Judge, 1930-08-23 · page 10 of 36
Judge — August 23, 1930 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page from *Judge* magazine presents humorous "historical" explanations for sleep-related customs, written as if by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). It's satirical pseudo-scholarship—fake academic humor. The three vignettes mock how we attribute modern practices to ancient origins: 1. **"Forty Winks"**: Invented by a Roman businessman who trained grackles (birds) to wink in sequence, timing his power naps. The joke is the absurd literal origin story for an idiom. 2. **The Snore Absorber**: King Thymol of Aquitaine had a specially bred "Super-Eared Whippet" dog whose ears absorbed all snoring sounds so his wife could sleep peacefully—a ridiculous technological "solution" to a common problem. 3. **Counting Sheep**: Originally involved a Stone Age man named Ninib Nudd who would drive dinosaurs past insomniacs for them to count (charging forty cents per hundred). The joke conflates dinosaurs with sheep-counting. The satire gently mocks pseudo-historical explanations and inventing elaborate backstories for everyday habits.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE A PASCOZOGAVISTIAL SURVEY Gf By m Dr Th eobhrastus Seuss ; & THE ANIMALS’ PART IN ‘THE HISTORY OF SLUMBER OK x io [Ese ee Tue Snore Ansonsen The custom of sleeping “forty winks” dates back — Jfow King Thymol of Aquitaine enjoyed snoring! Yet | to 18 B.C. when Appius Glauppius was Rome's noone slept more peacefully than his wife. This astound- foremost business man. Too busy to sleep except jng phenomenon was made possible by the Super-Eared in snatches, Glauppius trained forty grackles to Whippet. So intent were this animal's ears, they com- time his naps by winking successively. When the pletely absorbed every sound from the atmosphere, fortieth had winked, they promptly awoke him by raising their voices in song. Tue INventor or tite ery Wink” Snooze Surer Countixe Bringing on slumber by counting sheep, says Herr Prof. Strassabahn of Heidelberg, orig- inated back in the Stone Age before there were sheep. In the old days, if one had insomnia, he'd send for Ninib Nudd. Nudd would drive his dinosaurs past and allow them to be counted for forty cents a hundred. comicbooks.com