 This was 7 years after he had solved the problem of how carbon atoms could bond to up to four other atoms at the same time.Curiously, a similar, humorous depiction of benzene had appeared in 1886 in a pamphlet entitled "Berichte der Durstigen Chemischen Gesellschaft" (Journal of the Thirsty Chemical Society), a parody of the "Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft", only the parody had monkeys seizing each other in a circle, rather than snakes as in Kekulé's anecdote.Some historians have suggested that the parody was a lampoon of the snake anecdote, possibly already well known through oral transmission even if it had not yet appeared in print.