The Meeker herald., 1896-09-26
THE coLuM5lAN EGG.

mother Theory of How tae Feat Was Ac
comp isacs:.
The Columbian Exposition has hrorsl
I.c egg story into prominence aG:i-
nd in order that it may not crsir-i:'
fert public attention from the main o
-ct of the worlds fair, and as an act
.nstice to the memory of Columbus hin.
elf, think it is time to give the s:or
an eternal rest, writes NJ. NJ. Truinbul!
in Opera Court. The fable runs taai
the problem of standing an egg on eno
having been submitted as q puzzle t.
Columbus, he solved it instantly by tap
ping the egg on the table, and breaking
the end of it just enough to make fiat
basis on which it stood firm, without
quiver. According to the legend, the
philosophers who thought to confoun6
the great mathematician by such sim
pie question, accepted the solution rs
correct, acknowledged themselves de
feated, and if there was a bet upon it,
as suppose there was, gave up the
money. 1t is not grateful duty to
abolish popular myths, but this, like so
many better ones, must go.
Evidently, the Columbian egg story is
fiction, because if true, Columbus
must have been clumsy jugglcr, and
the breaking Of the egg confession OF
defeat, an acknowledgment that the
problem could not be solved without vi
plating its first implied condition, name
ly, 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 Gordian knot
by cutting it into pieces, which was not
untying it at all. Columbus might jus,
as well 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 a plane surface is not q difficult feat
have known how to do it for more
have not revealed the secret, fearing
that unprincipled men might use it for
betting purposes and win great fortunes
with it; but in the Chicago Tribune
find the ancient fiction served up again
for the benefit of correspondent who
being in possession OF print OF lio
garth's picture of Columbus and TIL;
egg, wanted to know the meaning :.rd
the moral of the picture Rather than
endure this any longer will now give
the Columbian secret away.
One day when 1 was boy at school
we had for q reading lesson the story OF
| Columbus and the egg. In my class wa
little Irish boy about my own age
| whose name was Jerry Grady, and
when school was out for noon .Ierfy
said to me: Ibid ye mind that sthory
about Columbus and the egg? Sure
that's not the way the thrick was done
at all, at all. Come wild me and I'll show
| ye how Clumbus done it." Now it SO
happened that Jerry's mother kept
chickens, and when we reached the
house he had no trouble in finding 4
fresh egg. First putting clean plate
on the table, Jerry took the egg and
shook it violently for some seconds OF
until the yelk 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
ture 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 1t was, for have often done il
myself that way, and any body else car
do it. My object in correcting this bi,
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 OF
end is that its contents are not balanced
either in weight or place, but aftel
they are thoroughly mixed tho egg will
easily recognize its own center of grav
ity and stand upright like a toy soldier
which ID made on the same principle