The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

A chained flea.—We have often heard it asserted, but we never witnessed the fact until yesterday, that it was possible to make a chain and collar to confine a flea in a manner similar to chaining up a dog. An ingenious mechanic, as he himself relates, of the name of Jones, a native of Hertfordshire, is at this time in this town, with an exhibition of the flea and chain; the latter we clearly saw, fixed to a kennel, formed of a cherry stone. The chain consists of 33 circular links, visible to the naked eye, and the collar may be easily discerned through a magnifier of no greater power than a common reading glass; the whole is so light that the flea runs and gambols as though it was of but little incumbrance. The same person exhibits four gross of tea spoons, so small as to be packed in a cherry stone. He sometime since made a common fine working needle to unscrew, and in which was secreted a pair of scissors. With all this ingenuity, the exhibitor does not appear in affluent circumstances, but quite the contrary.

Essex [Eng.] Herald.