The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-03
NUTS HARD TO CRACK
QUESTIONS WHICH EXCITE STRONG
LY INQUlSlTlvE MINDS.


peror Tiberius an Early Exampie-The
Puzzling Dreams of "a Chinese.
Bacon doubtless had in his mind the
| propounder of unanswerable questions
when, in his essay on discourse" he adj
| vised all seekers after knowledge to avoid
| putting troublesome queries--a practice
which he declared was fit only for poser.
The poser, however, has existed time out
OF mind. He Is to be found among all
classes OF men, from emperors down to
private individuals who prepare scientific
| conundrums
A somewhat early example of the poser
pure and simple was the Emperor Tiberius.
The unfortunate philosophers whom he
| used To keep for "a pastime in his island re-
treat at Capre were continually being
plagued by absurd questions. Suetonius
tells us that the emperor used to demand
OF these wise men whom Hecuba's mother
was. III they refused to commit them
selves, the family tree of the Hecubas not
having come down TO posterity, the en-
peror was wont to wax wroth at their ig-
norance and threaten them with corporal
punishment If on the following day they
did not come prepared with an answer. 9th
er favorite questions of his were: "What
| name did Achilles pass under when he So
| journed with the virgins at Scyros?"
what particular song were the sirens
| when seated on the rocks In the habit of
chanting In order to allure travellers to
their deathS" In vain was 1t for these wise
men to invent fictitious answers, for the
| emperor invariably asked for authorities.
and If chapter and verse were not forth
coming some ingenious punishment fell
to the lot of those unfortunate manufac-
turers of history.
Perhaps 1t was because time hung heav-
lily on their hands that the holy men of the
church during the middle ages pestered
their spiritual superiors with foolish ques-
tions drawn from the Bible. A bishop in
those days had to know, or rather appear
to know, even more than Macaulays ON
niscient schoolboy. No small portion of
his time, it would seem, was spent in en-
deavoring to find answers to such ques-
tions as the following: "What was the use
of the ladder which Jacob saw in his vi
sion, seeing that the angels had wings,
and SO did not require any other means of
descent from heaven to earth9" "What
kind of implements did Adam and Eve use
when they sewed the fig leaves together and
made themselves aprons?' Far from
checking speculations such as the above,
the dignitaries of the church appear to
have encouraged them, and "the nicer the
points the better the bishop liked them.
The regal as well as the clerical mind
delighted in propounding abstruse ques-
tiOns. Was, for instance, man who came
as stranger to city and being in ex-
treme want of food justified in stealing in
order to save his life? Grotius, Puffendorf
and a whole host of foreign jursts declare
in the affirmative. Cicero, Hale, Black
stone and others take the opposite side.
The great Bacon himself suggests q nice
point If two persons are shipwrecked and
get on the same plank, but find it is not
able to save them both, Is either justified
If, In order to save his life, he thrust the
other from itS
Scientific men, too, have raised some
curious questions for posterity to argue
over Many of these, however, are similar
to that which Charles III propounded to
the Royal society-viz, "If fish Is put
into a globe full to the brim with water,
why is it that the water does not overflow"
The society, being loyal subjects, took a
decent time to look into this profound
question, and then informed his majesty,
in the politest terms which they could
muster, that under the given crcum-
stances the water would overflow. There is
that ancient question, "What would hap
pen If an irresistible force came into con-
tact with an immovable body?"
Equally fruitless is the speculation as to
which came first, the hen or the egg. In
spite of the old Greek saying, 1.-THE Begin
ming of all life Is an egg" we usually i'm
agine hens eggs at least to have been laid
by hen. Perhaps the theory of evolution
can furnish an answer to this, for evolu-
ton can explain much. AS the Americans
say, "We pass" anglice we give it up.
"Does water wheel run faster at night
than In the dayY' The savants even of
Germany have studied this nice point and
own there Is no satisfactory answer.
Again, "Does rest improve the cutting
properties of a razor?' There is no answer
to this either. "Does q man weigh more
at the equator than at the north pole?" and
Chow do birds soar without moving their
Wings" are both questions which seem to
imbitter the lives of many apparently sane
people.
There Is story to the effect that GER
tain gentleman, being commissioned to
write an article on Chinese metaphysics,
looked up the words Chinese" and 'meta-
physics" in the Encyclopedia Britannica
and combined his information. Consider
ing the questions which the metaphysi-
clans of China are In the habit Of PROFOUND
ing, we think the gentleman did wisely In
sparing his readers an introduction to the
subtleties of the Celestial intellect. AS an
example of what they thus escaped we APP
pend the following: A certain Chinaman
fell asleep and dreamed he was n butterfly.
During the dream, while in the form OF
a butterfly, he dreamed he was China
man. On awakening, a terrible feeling
came over him. Was he now butterfly
dreaming he was Chinaman, or had he
last night been Chnaman dreaming that
he was butterfly? The question weighed
upon this Chinese mans mind. He sought
out the greatest thinkers OF China, who
pondered over this question, but could
make nothing of it, 1t Is said that the joy
and beauty have gone out of that China
mans life. Fortune may smile upon him.
he may be decorated with peacock feath-
ers and yellow jackets, yet content will
not be his, for he can never BIO certain In
his own mind whether he DO u Chinaman
or a butterfly. -London Standard.