Tuesday, June the 21st, 2005
back to: title, date or indexes
Dear Mr Key, writes the increasingly irritating Chris De Burhg [sic]. I fear the man is a monomaniac. Yesterday on your website I was intrigued to read about ichor, alongside the piece on sieves and basins in which you kindly reprinted my letter. This got me to wondering—if I poured ichor into a basin through a sieve, would there be any residue in the sieve, and if so, what would it be?
Tempting though it is to ignore Mr De Burhg's [sic] witterings, and throw some more pebbles at starlings and crows, I have been told he is a fearsome litigant and will probably take me to court if I do not address his latest question.
In order to pour a quantity of ichor through a sieve into a basin, you would first have to wound, lacerate, or perhaps apply leeches to an immortal Ancient Greek deity. This is no easy task. I would go so far as to say it is impossible. But for the sake of argument, let us say you manage to waylay a passing God on a footpath. You poke at it with a spike and draw ichor, and collect the ichor in a small bowl held under the wound. We shall assume that the God is so surprised by your attack that it does not immediately smite you with divine retribution.
Leaving the Deity crumpled by the wayside, you scuttle off to the patch of ground hidden behind a pile of rocks where you have earlier stored your sieve and basin. You pour the ichor from the bowl through the sieve into the basin, and you note that there is not a trace of residue left in the sieve. Being an ethereal divine fluid, ichor by definition contains no impurities which would get snagged within the lattice of the sieve.
I trust that answers your foolish query, Mr De Burhg [sic]. Please do not write to me again unless you have something pertinent to say.