The Lincoln County herald., 1869-11-18
.prsbisns fsr ihs lassuioss

Ino Wovu ooN&e ID eu0)ees 70 PARADOX
issl seustrustion. When you obliee
uae 70 do q thing which b asss not want
70 Do, yot nay disobligs him at the same
time. Il hes been remarked that there
10 . very greet difference between .
church whore the gospel 10 dispensed.
and one where the gospel is dispensed
With. We hare often heard the story Of
how eaptsin Of q canal boat cried "Look
out" 70 bic paysengers when they were
going under Bridge, aud how rrcnch.
msn looked out accordingly and received
. bump on the head. but Il has never been
decided that tho Frsnchmsn took any
incorrect or unusual Specification FROM
the words. Il has never been de-
cided whether houae burns up Of down.
The question whether man Who ialls
from boat and 10 rescued from drown
Ing, 10 pulled out or pulled In. depends
mainly whether you arc speaking prima.
| rily Of the water, o. the boat. Some one
has noticed that people, say they slvll
peas when they unsbell them, that they
husk corn when they unkusk il; that
they skin . buffalo whom they unskin il /;
that they scale fishes when they uuscale
thom, and their gardens want wedding
when they are weedy enough already.
These psradoxes in words are the fouu
dation Of the pussles 10 logic which are
90 common. For instance, the trite eylo.
gism to the efIsct that because no cat has
two tails, and because cat has ono tail
more than no cat, therefore . cot has three
tails, the trouble arises In the paradcxical
use Of the phrase mo cat" While 1t is
true 10 one sense In which IL 10 EN-.
ployed, 10 tho sylfogism, because . mo
eat" being nontenty has no tell. Simi.
larly il 10 argued that Oxford must, from
oil antiquity, have been either somewhere
or nowhere, then 10 must surely have been
somewhere. Where was il at the time Of
Tarquinus Priscus7 II was nowhere,
then Il surely must have been somewhere
Where was it? Aristotle and Philetus,
and I don't know how many others, are
said to have bothered themselves very
much with . proposition like this. II
you cay Of yourself, II lie," and 10 say
ing so tell the truth, then IL is quite cvi.
dent that you lie; but If you soy II lie, I"
and you tell . lie In saying It, then you
also tell the truth in saying,t. In either
case you lie and tell the truth at the
same time.
I have heard somebody make the fol
lowing propositions. Suppose, for exam.
lple, that . man IS years old marries q
girl Eve years old. He 10 seven times as
old ss she. They live together Eve years
aud the girl 10 ten years old. Then the
man 10 forty years old, or only 4 time as
old as the girl. They live together Eve
more years and she 10 fifteen. The mau
then Is forty I've, or only three times ~
old. They live until she Is thirty and he
is sixty. He 10 only twice a. old. Now
how long would they have to live to make
the pIri as old % the man.
Although 10 this case, the girl 10 catch.
ing the man very fast, the reasoning il
similar to that BY which it was long ago
argued that man could never catch tor
toise which had mile the start. While the
man runs mile, the tortoise goes ono.
tenth of mile while the man runs one.
tenths Of mile, the tortoise goes one.
hundredth Of mile while the man runs
one hundredth Of mile, the tortoise goes
one thousandth Of mile while the man
ruus one thousandth Of mile, the tor.
to,se goes one ten thousandth Of mile,
and 80 on 10 any extent Of which tho dec.
imal notation 10 espablc-the tortoise
always being some in6nitesimal fraction
Of space ahead Of the man.
! will give only one more illustration
Of this character. Roe wishes to study
Law with Doe, and Offers TO pay the GUS
tomary foe when he shall have won bis
6rst su,t iu law. To this Doc agrees,
aud Roe becomes . student Doe gets
tired Of waiting for his fee and determines
to tue Noe for tho amount, Doe roa-.
sons: "lf I gsin the case, Roe will be
compelled 70 pay me by the decision Of
the Court II I losa il, be will have to
pay me by the condition of our flrst con-
tract, a. be will have won bis 6rst law
suit" But Roe also reasons: "If I suc
eesd, and the award Of tho Court Is 10 my
favor, Of course I shall not have to pay
the money, II the sourt decides against
me I shall not have it TO pay according
70 the terms Of our contract, for l shall
not have gsinsd my FRS. suit at law"
The discerning readers will easily per
csive that great many Of the physi..
cal, political and doctrinal discussions
which are going on 10 tho earth get their
principal fuel in the different ssose Of
words and phrases. will not moralise
extensively on this proposition, though
there 10 abundant opportunity to do So
I deem illustration more entertaining
than dissertation. The GALAXY. -
The sun does not shine for few trees
or flowers, but for the wide worlds Joy.
The lonely pine on the mountain top
waves Ito sOmbre boughs and cries .Thou