PART II.

The poor have two, the rich have none,Millions have many, you have one,

is solved by O.

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85. Money.

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86. HadIbeen in Stanley’s place when Marmion cried “On, Stanley, on!” the resulting wordon-i-onwould have made the Scottish fray seem more like Irish stew.

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87. The figure O.

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88.

Let her be, or beat her,Give her little ease;Then in safety seat herAll among the bees,

is solved byA Queen Bee. TheBeeis made up of the letterb, in Greek calledbeta, and two littlees.

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89. Its.

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90. Inch—chin.

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1. CRAZY LOGIC

Can you prove that madman = madam is solvedthus:—

A madman is a man beside himself. Therefore a madman = two men.

Madam is a woman. Woman is double you O man (w-o-man). Therefore madam = two men.

And as things which are equal to the same are equal to one another, therefore madman = madam.

Q. E. D.(Quite easily Done.)

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2. A BIT OF BOTANY

The water-plant is theFrogbit, which floats and spreads on the surface of ponds and pools.

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3. The six islands buried in thelines—

He set down the answer to that sum at random.

By bold policy Prussia became a leading power.

A great taste for mosaic has arisen lately.

The glad news was swiftly borne over England.

At dusk, year after year, the old man rambled home.

The children cried, hearing such dismal tales.

are Sumatra, Cyprus, Formosa, Borneo, Skye, Malta.

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4. The seven geographical names “buried” in the sentence, “We could hide a light royalboat with a man or two; the skipper, though, came to a bad end,” are Deal, Troy, Witham, Esk, Perth, Baden, Aden.

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5. The jumbled letter lines readthus:—

Let those who deal in mystic rhymesThis transposition trace;And toThe Standardsend betimesEach letter in its place.

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Three little articles all in a lineLead to a thousand, expressing,If with another all these you combine,What can be never a blessing—

is solved by ANATHEMA (an-a-the-M-a).

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Ask a policeman, possibly he knowsIn uniformed arrayIf not, an added letter plainly showsHow little he can say—

is solved by adding nto uniformed—uninformed.

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8. The Ruling lettersin:—

We rule the world, we letters five,We rule the world, we do!And of our number three contriveTo rule the other two—

are B. U. T. (beauty), and Y. Z. (wise head).

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9. Many might punctuate the sentence, “Maud like the pretty girl that she was went for a walk in the meadows” by merely putting a full stop at the end of it. But why not make adash after Maud?

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10. The answer by Echo to

What were they who paid three guineasTo hear a tune of Paganini’s

isPack o’ ninnies!

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11. The verse in which only five different letters are usedis—

It is nineteen tennis nets,Nine in tents in tints intense.Ten sent in inset in sets,See it, test it, it is sense!

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12. The catch sentence: “If is is not is and is not is is what is it is not is and what is it is is not if is not is is?” becomes intelligible if it is punctuated thus: If “is” is not “is,” and “is not” is “is,” what is it “is not” is, and what is it “is” is not, if “is not” is “is?”

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13. The words on the placard were PALE ALE, and these through the steps described become PA-LE AP-LE, APPLE.

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14. The reading of “Time flies you cannot they pass at such irregular intervals,” is as though it ran “You cannot time flies, they pass at such irregular intervals.”

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ROYAL MEMORIES

15. I was reminded of Queen Victoria as I entered the South Kensington Museum atfive minutes to one, because I noticed that the hands of my watch were so placed as to represent a very perfect V.

When I left the building it wastwenty-five minutes and forty-five seconds to six, and then the hands, with the help of the seconds hand which crossed it, formed a very perfect A, and so reminded me of Prince Albert.

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16. The solution of

CCCSAW

is “the season was backward.”

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17. THE OLD LATIN LEGEND

AMANS TAM ERATHI DESINT HEROAD DIGITO UT MANDO

reads off into excellent Englishthus:—

“A man’s tame rat hides in the road; dig it out man, do!”

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18. The statement “I know that roseate hues preserve” does not imply that there is any curative virtue in rose-coloured rays, but asserts “I know that Rose ate Hugh’s preserve!”

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19. The following exception was taken to Dr Fell’s diet for the sick of allsops:—

“Sure the doctor’s wits are failing,”Cried a saucy wag.“Allsopp’s ale the sick and ailingTo their bier will drag.”

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20. The English dislocated sentence formed by these thirty-sixletters:—

SAR BAB SAR BAB SAR BABSAR BAB SAR BAB SAR ARA

is, “A bar as a barb bars Barbara’s Barabbas.”

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21. The Wiltshire farmer’ssentence—

“Igineyvartydreevriswutts”

when interpreted runs, “I gave him forty-three for his oats.”

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22. Here is a tolerable rhyme toChrysanthemum:—

Through gardens where appearBeds of chrysanthemum,We pass at eve to hearOur choir their anthem hum.

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23. This was, in brief, the pathetic tale of the three eggs—“Two bad!”

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24. THE ANCIENT LEGEND

Doun tooth ersA syOuw ould bedOne by.

reads thus:—“Do unto others as you would be done by.”

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25. There were but six persons in the vault which contained two grandmothers and their two grand-daughters; two husbands and their two wives; two fathers and their two daughters; two mothers and their two sons; two maidens and their two mothers; two sisters and their two brothers. Two widows had each one son, and each married the son of the other, and had a daughter by the marriage.

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26. The supposedcharm—

groundturn evil star

given by the wise woman to a nervous couple, to counteract their evil star, and account for mysterious noises, is merely “Rats live underground,”turnbeing a direction to the solver.

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27. The word composed of five varied vowels of foreign sound, with but one consonant between them, is oiseau, the French for bird. The three letters which flow in four are eau, water, which flows in the River Oise, and the other trio spell oie, a goose, which is found therein.

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28. TheParadox—

What in his mind no man can findFour symbols will display;But only one remains behindIf one we take away—

is solved byBone.

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29. The barber who had placed in his window thenotice—

“What do you thinkI will shave you for nothing and give you a drink”

explained, to the man who expected a free shave and a cool drink, that the interpretation was really this:—“What? Do you think I will shave you for nothing, and give you a drink?”

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30. The curious Latinlabel—

GENUI NE JAMAICARUM.

has no reference to Icarus, or to flying machines. Its proper place was on a cask of “Genuine Jamaica Rum.”

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31. The puzzle word is ipecacuanha.

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32.

Johnson’s cat went up a tree,Which was sixty feet and three;Every day she climbed eleven,Every night she came down seven.Tell me, if she did not drop,When her paws would touch the top—

is solved thus:—As each day and night the cat climbed up eleven feet, and came down seven, the daily upward gain was four feet, and thirteen days would bring her fifty-two feet up the tree. Then on the fourteenth day she mounted the remaining eleven feet, and was at the top, so that no coming down seven feet is to be taken into account, and she attains her placein fourteen days.

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33.

A third of six behind them fix,A third of six before;Thus makes two nines, when all combines,Exactly fifty-four—

issolved:—

IX NINE(the two nines.)IX NINES = 54.(S is a third of six) S

IX NINE(the two nines.)IX NINES = 54.

IX NINE(the two nines.)

IX NINES = 54.

(S is a third of six) S

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34. To bridge the moat, or space between the two squares which one match cannot span, place one match across one of the corners of the outer square, and the other from this to the inner square.

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35.

We start when the ninth hour is past,Then there’s an end of you.A vengeful goddess shows at lastWhat Antifat will do—

is solved byattenuate(at ten-u-Ate, goddess of vengeance).

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36. Mrs P.W. had only one guest to provide for. Her husband had invited his father’s brother-in-law, Jones, who was his brother’s father-in-law, because Mr P.W.’s brother had married Jones’ daughter, and his father-in-law’s brother, because he had himself married Jones’ niece, and also his brother-in-law’s father, as Mr P.W.’s sister married Jones’ son.

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37. This sharp customer started withfivepence farthing, and gradually extracted from the landlord’s pocket a shilling and three farthings towards the eighteenpence which he spent in refreshments.

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38. To form four triangles of equal size with six similar matches, place three of them in a triangle on the table, and hold or balance the other three above these, so as to form the skeleton of a pyramid.

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39. The following couplet solves thisquestion:—

Forty-five-years I had seenWhen my bride was but fifteen

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40. The lad gave tenpence each to a grandfather, his son, and his grandson.

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41. Nell’s reply to Tom, when he said, with a yawn, “I wish we could play lawn-tennis!” “Odioso ni mus rem. Moto ima os illud nam,” was not Latin, but good sound English. Read each word in its orderbackwards, and you have-- “Oh! so do I in summer. Oh, Tom! am I so dull, I man?”

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42. The policeman who was looking up the road for motor-car scorchers was able to see that his mate, who was looking down the road, was smiling, because they stood face to face.

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43.

Twenty-seven with three ninesYou and I can score;Anyone on other linesCan extend them more.Who can write them to be seenEqual only to sixteen?—

is solved thus:—Two of the three nines are reversed, and then

966= 16.

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44. The trying sentence, “that that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is,” is cleared thus by proper punctuation:—That that is, is; that that is not, is not. Is not that it? It is.

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45. A L L O is “Nothing after all.”

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46. The proverb with missing consonants is—Give a dog a bad name and hang him.

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47. If to the thirteen uprightstrokes—

| | | | | | | | | | | | |

thirteen more are added, the word HOTTENTOT may be formed.

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48. A coroner could, after signing his name, write down his official position withc or one r.

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Take a small card and place it on its longer edge upon the dotted line. Now set the picture in a good light on the table, and let your head drop gradually towards the card until you almost touch it with your nose. You will see the bird fly into the jaws of the snake!

Bird and snake

1. A carpenter was called in to mend a hole in a wooden floor. The gap was two feet wide, and twelve feet long, while the only board at hand was three feet wide, and eight feet long.

Rectangles

This had been put aside as useless, but, on catching sight of it, the carpenter ran his rule over it and said that he could make a perfect fit, and cover all the hole by cutting the board into two pieces. How did he do this?

Solution

This most interesting optical illusion was devised by Professor Thompson some yearsago:—

Illusion

If the illustration is moved by hand in a small circle on the level, with such motion as is given in rinsing out a bowl, the circles of the larger diagram will seem to revolve in the direction in which the paper is moved, while the cogs of the smaller diagram will apparently turn slowly in the opposite direction.

Here is another combination of the clever illusion of the whirling wheels.

Illusion

If a rapid rotating motion is given to the diagram, each circle will seem to revolve, and the cog wheel in the centre will appear to move slowly round in the opposite direction.

2. A man leaves an orchard of forty choice apple trees to his ten sons. On the first tree is one apple, on the second there are two, on the third three, and so on to the fortieth, on which there are forty.

Each son is to have four of the trees, and on them an equal number of the apples. How can they thus apportion the trees, and how many apples will each son have? Here is oneway:—

Can you find another perfect solution?

Solution

We call very particular attention to this fascinating illustration of the fact that the mind and eye may receive and register false impressions under quite simpleconditions:—

Illusion

Hold this at rather more than reading distance, upright, and move it steadily up and down. The dark line will soon seem to slide up and down upon the perpendicular line. It will be better seen if drawn to pattern on a card.

As the eye falls upon the principal lines of this interesting diagram, an immediate impression is formed that they are not parallel.

Illusion

This, however, is a most curious illusion, created in the mind entirely by the short sloping lines, as is found at once by the simple test of measurement.

3. With no knowledge of the surrounding district, I was making my way to a distant town through country roads, guided by the successive sign-posts that were provided.

Coming presently to four cross-roads I found to my dismay that some one had in mischief uprooted the sign-post and thrown it into the ditch. In this perplexing fix how could I find my way? A bright thought struck me. What was it?

Solution

4. As I stood on the platform at a quiet country station, an engine, coming along from my left at thirty miles an hour, began to whistle when still a mile away from me. The shrill sound continued until the engine had passed a mile and a half to my right. For how long was I hearing its whistle?

Solution

In this curious optical illusion the lines are exactly equal in length.

Illusion

The eye is misled by the effect which the lines drawn outward and inward at their ends produce upon the mind and sight.

In room marked A two men were placed,A third he lodged in B;The fourth to C was next assigned,The fifth was sent to D.In E the sixth was tucked away,F held the seventh man;For eighth and ninth were G and H,Then back to A he ran.Thence taking one, the tenth and last,He lodged him safe in I;Thus in nine rooms ten men found place,Now can you tell me why?

Solution

6. Are there any particular days of the week with which no new century can begin?

Solution

These straight lines, at right angles to each other, are, though they do not seem to be, exactly equal in length.

Illusion

This and similar illusions are probably due to the variation of the vague mental standard which we unconsciously employ, and to the fact that the mind cannot form and adhere to a definite scale of measurement.

7. Why has a spliced cricket bat such good driving power? and why is the “follow through” of the head of a golf club so telling in a driving stroke?

Solution

8. On my bookshelf in proper order stand two volumes. Each is two inches thick over all, and each cover is an eighth of an inch in thickness. How far would a bookworm have to bore in order to penetrate from the first page of Vol. I. to the last page of Vol. II.?

Solution

Can you decide at a glance which of the two lines below the thick band is a continuation of the line above it?

Illusion

Make up your mind quickly, and then test your decision with a straight edge.

9. From what height must a man fall out of an airship—screaming as he goes overboard—so as to reach the earth before the sound of his cry?

N.B.—Resistance of the air, and the acoustical fact that sound will not travel from a rare to a dense atmosphere, are to be disregarded.

Solution

10. Imagine a man on a perfectly smooth table surface of considerable size, in a vacuum, where there is no outside force to move him, and there is no friction. He may raise himself up and down, slide his feet about, double himself up, wave his arms, but his centre of gravity will be always vertically above the same point of the surface.

How could he escape from this predicament, if it was a possible one?

Solution

It is difficult, even after measurement, to believe that these figures are of the same size.

Illusion

But they will stand the test of measurement.

11. A rope passes over a single fixed pulley. A monkey clings to one end of the rope, and on the other end hangs a weight exactly as heavy as the monkey. The monkey presently starts to climb up the rope. Will he succeed?

Solution

12. Seeing that the tension on a pair of traces tends as much to pull the horse backward as it does to pull the carriage forward, why do the traces move on at all?

Solution

A very curious and interesting form of optical illusion is well illustrated by what may be called “the shifting brick.”

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