North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-10-13
WHOLE No. 678.

Paradoxes. .. 4r s..a VI.
The word oblige is subject to paradox
cal construction. When you oblige man
to do thing which he does not want to
do, you may disoblige him at the same
time. 1t has been remarked that there is
II very great difference between church
where the gospel is dispensed. and one
where it is dispensed with. We have Of
ten heard the story of how the captain of
n canal boat cried '.Look out r. to his
passengers when they were going under
bridge. and how frenchman looked out
accordingly and received hump on his
head but it has never been decided that
the Frenchman took any incorrect or un.
usual signi6estion from the words. 1t
has never been decided whether house
buIns up er down. The question whether
i man who falls from boat and is rescu-
ed from drowning is pulled out or pulled
in, depends mainly whether you are
speaking primarily of the water or the
boat. Some one has noticed that people
say they shell peas when they unsbell
them that they husk corn when they
unhusk it; that they skin buffalo when
they unskin it; that they scale fishes
when they unscale them, and their gar,
dens want wedding when they are weedy
enough already.
These paradoye in words are the foun>
dation of the puzzles in logic which are
so common. For instance, the trite sy,lo-
gism to the effect, that because no cat has
two tails, and because cat has one tail
more than no cat, therefore cat has three
tails, the trouble arises in the paradoxical
use Of the phrase "no cat" While it is
quite true in one sense that no cat has two
tails. it is not true in the sense in which it
is employed, in the syllogism. because Il
mo cat" being nonenity has no tail.
Similar it is argued that Oxford must,
from all antiquity, have been either some
where or nowhere. Where was it at the
time of Tarquinius Prscus 1t was no.
where, then it surely must have been
somewhere. Where was it? Aristotle
and .Philetus, and don't know how many
others. are said to have bothered them
selves very much with proposition some
thing like this. Ii you say of yourself,
Il lie," ana in saying SO tell the truth,
Their it is quite evident that yeu lie /; but
if you say II lie,' and you tell lie in
saying it, then you also tell the truth in
saying it. In either cases you lie and tell
the truth at the same time.
Il have heard somebody make the FOL.
|. lowing proposition. Suppose, for example,
that man 35 years old marries girl :
: years old. He is seven times as old a.
she. They live together five years and the
girl is 10 years old. Then the man is Al
years old. or only four times as old as the
girl. They live together five years more
and she is is. The man then is 45, or
only three times as old. They live until
she is 30 and the man 90. He is then
only twice as old. Now. how long will
they have to live to make the girl us old
as the man?
Although, in this case, the girl is catch.
ing the man very fast the reasoning is
similar to that by which it was long ago
argued that man never C, uld catch
tortoise which had mile the start. While
the man runs mile the tortoise goes
one-tenth of Il mile while The man runs
ore. .hundreth of mile. the tortoise goes
one>thousandth of mile while the man
runs one thousandth Of "a mile, the tortoise
goes one. tenth thousandth Of mile, and
so on to any extent Of which the decimal
= lnotation is capable-tle tortoise always
4 heing some infnitesinal fraction Of space
ahead of the man.
will give only one illustration more of
this character. Roe wishes to study law
with Doe. and offers to pay the customary
fee when he shall have won his frst suit
at law. To this Doe agrees and Roe be>
comes student. Doe gets tired Of wait
ing for his fee and determines to sue Roe
for the amount. Doe reasons: "If gain
the case, Roe will he compelled to pap me
by the decision Of the Court if lose it,
he will have to pay me by the condition
of our contract, as he will have won his
first lawsuit. ~ But Roe also reasons: .If
succeed and the award OF the Court is
IN my f.vor, Of course l shall not have
TO pay the money if the Court decides
against me shall not have to pay it, ac-
cording to the terms of our contract, for
| shall not then have gained my frst suit
| at law.'
The discerning reader will easily per>
ceive that a great many Of the metaphysi
cal, political and doctrinal discussions
| which are going on in the earth, get their
principal fuel in the different sense of
words and phrases. will not moralze
extensively on this propositi, IN, though
there is abundant opportunity to do so. !
deem illustration moro entertaining than
dissertation GALAXY.
How TO RI.E REFREsnED.-Every per-
son who tolls daily ut any kind Of labor
rpouirinv great phvsic,l Or mental eyer.