The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-10-21
DECEPTIVE PUZZLES,
SIMPLE QUESTIONS TREATED IN AN
ARTFUL MANNER.

The Query With Which King James
1. Worried the Smart Men of His
Time-HOw to Prove That Two Per-
sons Have Equal Number of Hairs.
Very simple questions, provided they
be turned in a sufficiently artful man
ner, may prove insurmountable
stumbling blocks to the cleverest
brains. Who, for instance, has not
heard how King James l. puzzled all
the leading wits of the age by pro-
pounding to them the following: "Why
Is it that when a fish is introduced
into bucket Of water, already full to
the brim, the water does not over
fiOw?"
All sorts of theories, some Of them
very ingenious, were put forward to
account for such an extraordinary
phenomenon. The true solution Of the
problem, it need hardly be said. is
very much simpler than any Of those
found by the wise men of the seven
teenth century, on whom King James,
with the pawky humor Of his nation,
had stolen march by, as the logicians
would say, begging the question-as-
Stunning as fact something which is not
true. The water in the bucket does
overflow, as anybody who makes the
experiment will soon discover for him
self. Numerous other instances Of
the same kind Of trick question might
be given, to which the correct answer
is simply mot true"
Other questions Of a slightly differ
ent nature, but equally simple, have
been known to completely nonplus
persons for whom on all ordinary &C.
casions in life the qualifying term
stupid would be singularly inapprO-
pirate How many of your clever
friends, may 1 ask, will readily give a
correct answer to the following ques-
tion-assuming, Of course, that they
have not heard it before-"If a boy
weighs fifty pounds and half his own
weight, what is the boys weight?'
The answer naturally is hundred
pounds, yet it is surprising what a
number of people will glibly reply
seventy-fve pounds. Here are others
that may be used to some of our read
ers:
Every day yard is cut from roll
Of silk twenty yards in length. In how
many days will it be entirely cut up
into lengthsF'
"a man climbing a greasy pole TWEEN
ty feet high mounts two feet every
minute and then rests for a minute
during which time he slips back three
quarters of the distance he has gained
How long at this rate would he take to
reach the top?'
Need the reader be told that the an
swer to the first question is not twenty
but nineteen, and to the second not
forty, but thirty-seven? The man as
cending the pole gains half foot ev
cry two>minutes. In thirty-siX minutes
he is therefore within two feet Of the
top. At the end of the thirty-seventt
minute he reaches the top and remains
there.
Here is another question involving
ometry:
my room had only one small win
dow a foot high and foot broad
which admitted very little light. A
clever friend showed me how 1 might
enlarge it to twice its size without
making it either higher or broader
How was it done"
The original window was diamond
shaped BY making it square win
dow 1 increased neither its length mol
it's breadth, and yet it was exactly
twice it's former size.
To find the correct answer to the
foregoing question the only thing nee
essary is a certain amount of ref1ec
ton, but there are others which can
not be disposed Of so easily-which, In
deed. leave the door open for contro
versy. OF these the following Is
typical specimen:
"Suppose a man walking round q
pole on the top Of which monkey is
seated. AS the man moves the monkey
turns round on its perch and faces MIN
all the time. When the man has com
pleted his round Of the pole has ne
gone round the monkey or not?'
To most persons it would certainly
appear that the man had not gone
round the monkey, but whoever Is IN.
terested in such discussions Will mo
no lack of learned authorities to prove
that the man in going round the pole
has necessarily gone round the monkey
also.
"How would you demonstrate that a
vessel is able to move faster than the
wind by which it is driven" At first
sight the wary reader, unacqualnteu
with nautical matters, might imagine
this to be on all tours with the query
put By King James to his servants;
but, as every yachtsman is aware, this
Is by no means the case. A ship really
can sail faster than the wind. For ex-
ample, it may be bowling along at the
rate of fifteen knots an hour, tnougn
the wind at the time is blowing no
more than ten knots. This Is fact