The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-03-22
lFrom Chambers Journal.l
THE HUMORS DETERMINATIONS,

[From Chambers Journal.l
THE HUMORS ORGANIZATIONS.
As a rule, examinations are not re.
garded by the outside world as occa.
sions on which a display of humol
may be expected. But if exceptions
prove the rule, then may examina-
tions claim to afford very rich fund
for ludicrous incidents. There are
naturally varied circumstances in ex-
amaminatiens which call forth the
wit of the candidate. The humor
varies, in fact, with the particular
person who is being examined, and
what is the topic of conversation be-
tween examiner and candidate. There
is to be distinguished medical as well
as legal humor; and conspicuous
amongst the occasions which afford
opportunity for the display of the lu-
dicrous, are those examinations which,
dignifed by the name of general
knowledge" trials, afford a very wide
and rich field for the ingenuity Of
candidates.
A thought may suggest itself to
readers who reflect upon the subject
of examination humor, that Of all
circumstances, the position Of a can
didate at an examination table is the
least likely situation to evoke a sense
of the humorous. The racking of the
brain to find an answer to an oral
question, the knowledge that the ex-
aminer is waiting with ixity of gaze
for ones reply, and the desperation
with which at last the candidate may
rise to the occasion, form series of
circumstances, out of which joke
might be regarded as least likely to
arise. But it is this very desperation
which is frequently the natural parent
of the witticism. The candidate
makes up his mind to say or write
something, and that something, as
often as not, is, in an innocent
moment Of inspiration, joke.
One of the frequent causes of hu-
NOR at examinations is of course the
ignorance Of candidates. A person
was once asked to answer the question,
"Who was Esau?" His reply was
highly characteristic. ''Esau," said
he, "was man who wrote fables, and
who sold the copyright: to a a publisher
for bottle of potash! The confu-
sion Of "Esau" and Esop," Of ''copy-
right" and "birthright," Of "pottage"
and potash is an example Of humor
of by no means an unusual class.
Another student was asked to give
some account of Wolsey. His reply
was unique. ''Wolsey was famous
General who fought in the Crimean
War, and who, after being decapitated
seyeral times, said to Cromwell: 'Ah,
if l had only served you as you have
served me, I would not have been de-
serted in my old age!"
In an examination destined to test
the general knowledge of young lads
about to enter the ranks Of professions
al student-life, a series of questions
was put as tests of the reading of the
candidates. The following were some
Of the replies obtained from the as
piring youths. 'What was the Star
Chamber?" Answer: can astrono-
mer's room ''-"What was meant by
the Year Of Jubilee?" Answer:
''Leap-year." r."-"What was the Bronze
Age?" Answer: when the new
pennies became current coin of the
realm. .'-"What are the Letters of
Junius?" Answer: 'Letters written
in the month Of June. "-"What is the
Age of Reason?" Answer: "The time
that has elapsed since the person of
that name was born
The replies given to questions Of a
scientific nature are often of a re-
markably curious, not to say extraor-
.dinary kind, and appear frequently to
result from want Of appreciation of
the exact meaning of the teaching.
We know, for example, of a student
in a popular class Of physiology, who
on being asked to describe the bones
reply that the bone Of the upper arm
(uamed humerus in snatomy) twas
called the humorous, and that it re-
ceived its name because it was known
as the funny bone The Latin
name Of the bone had evidently be-
come confused in the students mind
with the popular name given to the
elbow, the nerve of which on being
violently struck, say, against piece
of furniture, gives rise to the we'll
known sensation of "pins and needles
in the arm and hand. Another an
swer given in an anatomy class is
worth recording. The teacher had de-
scribed the tarsus or ankle -bones-the
scientific name Of course being simply
the Latin equivalent for the ankle.
No such pathological idea had troubled
at least the student who replied to a
question concerning the ankle, "that
it was called the tarSus because St.
Paul had walked upon it, to the city
of that name! Still more ludicrous
was the confusion of ideas which beset
a student, who was questioned regard
ing the nature of the organ known as
the pancreas or "sweetbread," which
as most readers know, is an organ sit
uated near the stomach, apd supplying
a fluid of great use to the digestion Of
food. The reply of this latter student
was as follows: "The sweetbread i:
called the Pancreas. being so named
after the Midland Railway Station il
London" Anything more extraordi
nary or ludicrous than the confusion
of ideas as to the relation between ST
PancraS Railway Station and an Oroal