The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-23
ANCIENT PUZZLES.
The People of Yore Racked Their
Brains Like Those of To-day.
From the Philadelphfa Press

Brains Like Those of To-day.
From the Philadelphia Press
1t seems ridiculous that the people who
lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago
were more interested il puzzles than you
and are to-day. This is true, neverthe-
less. The puzzles l refer to are those in
writing, although the ancients probably
occupied some of their spare time with
strange and pplzling devices of wood and
metal, as we do What pleasure il Is to
solve the problems in our favorite maya
zines or newspapers IL is a very good
exercise for ones brains too and where
prize is offered to the fortunate boy or
girl who first solves the puzzles of differ
emit kinds, the work is more pleasant still
in the anticipation of proving oneself a
little cleverer than the others, and of re-
ceiving the gift.
We rnd that the acrostic is the most
ancient form of pulling mankind.
Acrostic is Greek for a number of
verses, the first letters of which form a
word-sometimes name and sometimes
a sentence. The final letter may form a
word, or, as Addison tells US, the letters
will even run down the center of the
verses. as a seam. The Hebrew poets
often made their verses run over the en-
tire alphabet. Twelve of the Psalms are
written on this plan, the most notable be-
ing the one hundred and nineteenth
This has twenty-five divisions of stanzas,
| corresponding to the twenty-five letters
of the Hebrew alphabet.
Each stanZa is formed of eight couplets.
and the first line of each couplet in the
first stanza in the original Hebrew be-
| gins with the letter aleph; the second
| commences with beth, the third with
| gimel, and so on through the alphabet.
! The English divisions of the Psalms are
| called after the Hebrew letter that be-
| gan the couplet. 1t was also customary
| TO compose verses on sacred subjects af-
ter the fashion of Hebrew acrostics. This
| was done with view to aid the memory,
and such pieces were called abcedarian
| hymns.
The riddle is also of ancient origin.
The Proverbs of the Bible, or sayings at
tributed TO Solomon, are often in the
form of riddles Was it not the Queen of
Sheba who proposed riddles to Solomon?
The Koran, the scriptural book of the
Mohammedans, also contains riddles, as
do some books now in existence, written
in Arabic and Persian The ancient
Egyptians also propounded riddles, and
one Of the seven wise men of Greece, vino
lived in. the sixth century b. c., was cee-
DRAFTED for his riddles in verse Homer,
the Greek poet, according to a state
ment in Plutarch. died of vexatlon at
AOb DtlllG dblG W oOlNG d EluQle. In InG
middle ages riddles are encouraged for
! amusement on winter nights in the baro-
NAL hall, and also in the monastery. In
later days some of the most brilliant men
Of letters contributed to the list of rid
dies
The anagram, or transportation of the
letters IN words or sentences, was much
in vogue in Greece in the olden times
The Cabalists, or Jewish doctors, thought
that the anagram always pointed out a
mans destiny, and if his name written
backwards or transposed in any way
spelled word with meaning, they firmly
believed it revelation. The fiatterers of
James |, of England. proved his right to
the British monarchy as the descendant
OF the mythical King Arthur, from his
name Charles James Stuart, which be-
| comes claims TO Arthur's seat. The best
anagrams are those which have in the
new order of letters, some signifcation
appropriate TO that from which they are
formed. When PLATE asked "Quid est
veritasi" (What is truth y he probably
had no idea that his questioned answered
itself. But it did the transposition made
II Est vir qui adest" Gt is the man who
is here. Anagrams were written as
early as 250 b. c., and their name comes
from the Greek words ana, backwards,
and gramma, writing.