August 2, 1886.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



305 



fishing excursion, saw a sea-serpent — by which name, here 

 and elsewhere in this article, we mean to imply only a 

 creature corresponding, so far as appearances went, with the 

 animal which has been so called. 



The sea-serpent seen by the captain and officers of the 

 Government ship BcBdalus is shown in fig. 3. There 

 is an account of this creature in one of the volumes of 

 the Knowledge Library Series, either " Rough Ways made 

 Smooth," or " Pleasant Ways in Science," we forget which.* 

 Numbers of other cases iu which strange sea-monsters 

 were seen are described in full in J\Ir. Gould's most interest- 

 ing volume. It contains nearly a hundred curious illustra- 

 tions, besides the three which Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co. 

 have been good enough to lend us for this ai-ticle. 



The chapters on the Unicom and the Pha-nis will be 

 found well worth reading. 



SOME PUZZLES. 



UPiING a recent tran.satlantic voyage, a sec- 

 tion of the passengers agreeably passed a 

 portion of the time by proposing puzzles of 

 various sorts, and endeavouring to solve 

 puzzles set by othei's. Doubtless many of 

 the puzzles thus set were old enough ; yet 

 if they were new to those who tried them 

 they gave not less pleasure though they might be ancient to 

 the puzzle-solving world. Many a half-hour which might 

 otherwise have been dreary enough was pleasantly em- 

 ployed iu trying to turn each set of letters, asonuis, 

 NEW DOOR, and hoats into one word; the field of three 

 squares, formed by cutting out a quarter from a large 

 square, was divided into four equal and similai- divisions, in 

 the manner familiar to most of us, after consideralile mental 

 exercise, by those unfamiliar with the problem ; and many 

 arithmetical and geometrical puzzles of greater or less 

 interest and difficulty were set and discussed. 



It occurred to the writer of these lines that in such exer- 

 cises we have in reality as useful a mental discipline as our 

 universities in their wisdom give for the training and test- 

 ing of men who are to lie our law\-ers, our doctors, and above 

 all our divines. In verse making, Latin or Greek, for ex- 

 ample, we have verbal puzzledom. In problems about 

 triangles, squares, circles, and so forth, we have geometrical 

 puzzledom. In algebra, the diflerential calculus, and the 

 calculus of variations, we have arithmetical puzzledom. It is 

 all, no doubt, highly beneficial. It at least serves to pass 

 away the ennui of three or four years in college. And 

 though perhaps future ages and races hereafter to inherit the 

 earth may somewhat wonder at the system — as ap2>lied in 

 testing men's fitness for religious, legislative, political, 

 philosophical, and scientific careers — they will have to admit, 

 I suppose, that it had its pleasing aspect. 



Further, it appears to us that the study of such puzzles as 

 are set merely for amusement may be made useful in the 

 way of instruction. For instance, when the familiar puzzle 

 is set which relates to the farmer, ignorant of numbers, who 

 left 17 horses to his three sons (or, equally well it may 

 be, an Arab sheik who left 17 camels), half to the eldest, 



* We may add here that Capr. McQuhae invited all who had seen 

 the creature, and had any skill in drawing, to depict it to the best 

 of their recollection. They did this without having any chance of 

 comparing their drawings together ; and the pictures, when finished, 

 were collected and placed under seal. I have this on the authority 

 of a commander in the Government navy, who informed me also 

 that British oiBcers laugh at Prof. Owen's fond conceit that the 

 sudden alarm caused the officers and crew of a frigate to mistake a 

 rather large sea-elephant for a sea-serpent. 



a third to the second, and a ninth to the youngest, the 

 solution sets the inquirer, who also may have been somewhat 

 ignorant of numbers, to the discussion of fractions in a prac- 

 tical way, and may throw more light on this useful depart- 

 ment of arithmetic than much study of arithmetical rules 

 from books. 



Then a puzzle of this sort lends itself to consideration in 

 the way of extension or amendment. For instance, suppose 

 the same problem set about 35 camels, with the additional 

 requirement that the cadi (whatever a cadi may be) who 

 settles the dispute shall not only satisfy the three sons but 

 take one animal for himself — the sons being as ignorant of 

 numbers as their papa — then we have an amusing as well as 

 an instructive problem. The solution might run somewhat 

 as follows : — 



The cadi being appealed to, said, after the manner of 

 cadis, " Because I cannot carry out your father's wishes 

 without making you a present of a camel, I will generously 

 bestow upon you my favourite camel Fatima ; let her be 

 added to your father's bequest." Then, standing at the door 

 of the .stable, he said to the eldest son, " How many of these 

 36 camels do you claim as your half? " And the eldest son 

 answered, "I claim 18, thanks to your genero.-^ity, oh cadi, 

 in adding Fatima to my father's camels." "Let 18 camels 

 be forthwith given to this youth," said the cadi to his ser- 

 vants; and 18 camels were accordingly led forth and taken 

 away by the intelligent young man. " And you, oh pro- 

 mising second son of an arithmetical father," gravely re- 

 marked the generous cadi, " how many do you claim as vour 

 third ? " And the lad safely replied, '"'I claim 12." Twelve 

 camels, therefore, were led forth ; and the second .son de- 

 parted reyoieing, for that .he had received more than his 

 father had bequeathed tmto him. " And now, oh my son," 

 said the cadi, standing with his servants around the front 

 door of the stable, " how many camels do you count as your 

 share — one-ninth part — of your father's beciuest?" "Nay, 

 oh my lord," replied the boy, scratching his head after the 

 manner of a ])uzzled Giaour, " I cannot tell how many camels 

 the ninth part of 35 may be : but now that your resplendent 

 generosity has added the beauteous Fatima to the number, 

 making it 36, I find that the ninth part thereof amounts, 

 according to the infidel Cocker, to four : and I beg that 

 I may take away so many." Then the cadi replied, with a 

 beaming smile, '• Oh boy, thou hast counted aright ; nine 

 times four are assuredly thirty-sis. Take, then, thy four a\ m els, 

 according to thy father's bequest." And the boy departed 

 rejoicing, with his four camels, which the cadi's servants led 

 forth from the front door of the stable. Howbeit, when the 

 lad had departed from before the front door, the cadi's servants 

 led forth two camels from the door at the back. And when 

 the three sons met soon after, they found that, strange to 

 .say, the much-admired Fatima, which the cadi had 

 generously besto-.ved upon the family, had not fallen to the 

 lot, either of the eldest, of the second, or of him that was 

 youngest of birth. "Doubtless," said they, "El Shaitan 

 has transformed it into a camel of less noble aspect." 



A favourite puzzle, always sure to find some to whom 

 it presents the charms of novelty and difficulty, is 

 the fine old 64-65 fraud, which was probably invented by 

 some commercial traveller from the far East — a bagman of 

 Bagdad so to speak. We suppose all the readers of 

 Knowledge know this old ))uzzle. A square, abcd, fig. 1, 

 like a chess-board, is divided by the lines be, ef, and 

 GH, into four parts, and a coin, say a sovereign, is put, or 

 supposed to be put, on each square. Then the pieces are 

 arranged as shown in fig. 2, and it is found that the 6i 

 sovereigns will not cover the squares now formed, of which 

 there are 65. 



The explanation of the apparent mystery is simple enough. 



