On Being the Right Size (1928)

This is another of those texts I read and go "They knew THIS in 1928?"

> Such are a very few of the considerations which show that for every type of animal there is an optimum size. Yet although Galileo demonstrated the contrary more than three hundred years ago, people still believe that if a flea were as large as a man it could jump a thousand feet into the air.

One of my favorite essays! Anyone interested in the topic should find themselves a copy of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book "On Growth and Form" and give it a read. Fascinating discussion of the sizes & shapes of living creatures from physical principles.

Apparently the "right size" for a federal government is unlimited: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hiscox/files/democracyfeder...