In view of the current political focus on the Doc's state, not to mention the Doc's near-obsession with the Old Man of the Mountain, I thought it was only sensible to direct your attention to this interesting article in the web journal of early American History, Common-Place.

Among other things, author Karen Haltunnen places the Old Man neatly within the cultural history of the 19th century, observing that the recently departed rock formation was a classic lusus naturae.

Yes, that's what I said, lusus naturae.