The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-05-22
THE COLUMBIAN EGG.
Another Theory OF How tho Feat Was 40
cOmDiishcd.

compiishcd.
The Columbian Exposition has brought
the egg story into prominence again;
and in order that it may not entirely di-
vert public attention from the main oh
ject of the worlds fair, and as an act Of
justice to the memory of Columbus him
self, think it is time to give the story
an eternal rest, writes M. NJ. Trumbull,
in Opera Court. Tho fable runs that
the problem of standing an egg on end
having been submitted as Il puzzle to
Columbus, he solved it instantly by tap
ping the egg on the table, and breaking
the end OF it just enough to make q flat
basis on which it stood firm, without Il
CULVER. According to the legend, tho
philosophers who thought to confound
the great mathematician by such sim
pie question, accepted the solution as
correct, acknowledged themselves de-
fcatcd, and if there was bet upon it,
rs I suppose there was, gave up the
money. 1t is not n grateful duty to
abolish popular myths, but this, like so
many better ones, must go.
Evidently, the Columbian egg story is
n fiction, because if true, Columbus
must have been n clumsy juggler, and
the breaking of the egg a confession Of
defeat, an acknowledgment that the
problem could not be solved without vi
olating its first implied condition, name
", that the egg, uninjured, should stand
alone and unsupported on level sur
face. Breaking the egg, so far from
solving the problem, was an evasion of
its terms, like untying the Gortlian knot
by cutting it into pieces, which was not
untying it ut all. Columbus might Just
as we'll have stuck the egg up
right into the salt upon the table,
and called that solution of the
puzzle. To make an egg stand upright
on plane surface is not difficult feat;
have known how to do it for moro
years than l care to mention, but I
have not revealed the secret, fearing
that unprinciplcd men might use it for
betting purposes and win great fortunes
with it; but in the Chicago Tribune 1
find the ancient fiction served up again
for the benefit of Il correspondent who,
being in possession of n print of Do-
garth's picture of Columbus and the
egg, wanted to know the meaning and
the moral of the picture. Rather than
endure this any longer l will now give
v.
One day when 1 was boy at school
we had for reading lesson the story of
Columbus and the egg. In my class was
Il little Irish boy about my own ago
whose name was Jerry Grady, ond
when school was out for noon Jerry
said to me: did We mind that sthory
about Columbus and the egg? Sure
that's not the way the thricl1 was done
at all, at all. Come wild me and I'll show
We how Clumbus done it." Now it so
happened that Jcrry's mother kept
chickens, and when we reached the
house he had no trouble in finding
fresh egg. First putting clean plate
on the table. Jerry took the egg and
shook it violently for some seconds or
until the yell1 and the white were thor
oughly mixed, like compound of milk
and water. Then, after holding the
egg upright on the plate until the mix
turc inside of it had settled quietly into
the broad base of it, he withdrew his
hand and left the egg standing upright
and alone. There" said he, that's
the way Columbus done it." and have
no doubt it was, for have often done it
myself that way, and anybody else can
doit. My object in correcting this bit
of history is to set Columbus right be-
fore the world and to rescue him from
the suspicion that he was ignorant of
the easy, scientific and purely mechani-
cal solution of the egg problem. The
reason why an egg will not stand on
end is that its contents are not balanced
either in weight or place, but after
they are thoroughly mixed the egg will
easily recognize its own center of gray
ity and stand upright like toy soldier
which is made on the same principle.