220 Unclassified Puzzlesincluded one here which, although not new, is really worthy of honorable
mention.
An English officer, after a gruesome experience during the Boxer rebellion
in China some years ago, fell asleep in church during the sermon. He was
dreaming that the executioner was approaching him to cut off his head, and
just as the sword was descending on the officer's unhappy neck his wife lightly
touched her husband on the back of his neck with her fan to awaken him. The
shock was too great, and the officer fell forward dead. Now, there is something
wrong with this. What is it?
Another good question on similar lines for the scientific boy would be:
Ifwe sell apples by the cubic inch, how can we really find the exact number
of cubic inches in, say, a dozen dozen apples?
534. AT THE MOUNTAIN TOP
"When I was in Italy I was taken to the top of a mountain and shown that
a mug would hold less liquor at the top of this mountain than in the valley
beneath. Can you tell me," asked Professor Rackbrane, at the breakfast table,
"what mountain this might be that has so strange a property?"
- CUPID'S ARITHMETIC
Dora Crackham one morning produced a slip of paper bearing the jumble
of figures shown in our illustration. She said that a young mathematician had
this poser presented to him by his betrothed when she was in a playful mood.
/)122 fffG q601LG2/
"What am I to do with it?" asked George.
"Just interpret its meaning," she replied. "If it is properly regarded it
should not be difficult to decipher."