crawling in a circle

He could not help thinking of a drawing by Daumier, entitled "Progress". Daumier had drawn a number of snails crawling after each other; that was the pace of human development. But the snails were crawling in a circle. - Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist by Erich Kästner

see also The Internet of Snails и Художники революционной Франции. Оноре Домье / К 210-летию и Ван Гог Винсент - Пьяницы, по работе Домье 1890 (Пьяницы Домье написана в 1860-м) и у groningen-sn

also catalogue of Daumier’s Paris: Caricature and Cultural Trauma in the Age of Haussmann, an exhibition organized by The Art Gallery at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY.