I check one of my favorite sites, Luminous Lint, periodically to see what is new . It’s a treasure trove of great and historical photography and there is always something interesting in the new images that are seemingly added daily.
The photo shown here immediately caught my eye and made me chuckle. It’s titled Portrait of Henri Groulx and a Rooster and is from a Parisian photo studio from around 1920. In these all so politically correct times, it’s kind of refreshing to see this French kid with his cigarette dangling. That world-weary look on his face and the confidence of his stance as he sits with legs crossed say that he’s six years old and he’s seen it all. Probably waiting for the next cockfight with his superchicken.
Another interesting photo is this one from 1847 taken by Boston area photographers Southworth and Hawes. It documents an operation at Massachusetts General that features one of the earliest uses of ether as an anesthetic. I’m not sure if the man credited with introducing ether as an anesthetic, William T.G. Morton, is in this photo but he was known to have demonstrated ether in this use in the Boston area at that time. I just find this photo a remarkable historical image which makes me really appreciate modern medicine, especially modern anesthesia.
With that in mind, I must get to work. My health insurance won’t pay for itself…
Redtree Times 
That first photo’s a hoot. It reminds me of a Flannery O’Connor story. When she was about that age, she taught a chicken to walk backwards. The Pathé news service came out to their farm and made a newsreel of it.
As she later said, “When I was six I had a chicken that walked backward and was in the Pathe News. I was in it too with the chicken. I was just there to assist the chicken but it was the high point in my life. Everything since has been anticlimax.”
I wasn’t aware of the Flannery O’Connor story. That’s great.
Here’s that video on BritishPathe– http://www.britishpathe.com/video/do-you-reverse-1/
You are my hero! I never even thought to look for the video – I ought to know by now that almost anything can be found. Thanks!
[…] in much time during this past week for chickenology, but when artist and blogger Gary Myers posted this Portrait of Henri Groulx and a Rooster on his site, my schedule […]