ARCHIMEDES AND HIS FULCRUM I/I 



The second problem is as follows : After the Romans 

 had captured Jotopat, Josephus and forty other Jews 

 sought shelter in a cave, but the refugees were so fright- 

 ened that, with the exception of Josephus himself and one 

 other, they resolved to kill themselves rather than fall into 

 the hands of their enemies. Failing to dissuade them from 

 this horrid purpose, Josephus used his authority as their 

 chief to insist that they put each other to death in an 

 orderly manner. They were therefore arranged round a 

 circle, and every third man was killed until but two men 

 remained, the understanding being that they were to 

 commit suicide. By placing himself and the other man 

 in the 3 1 st and 1 6th places, they were the last that were 

 left, and in this way they escaped death. 



ARCHIMEDES AND HIS FULCRUM 



EXT to that of Euclid, the name of Archimedes 

 is probably that which is the best known of all 

 the mathematicians and mechanics of antiquity, 

 and this is in great part due to the two famous 

 sayings which have been attributed to him, one being 

 " Eureka " "I have found it," uttered when he dis- 

 covered the method now universally in use for rinding the 

 specific gravity of bodies, and the other being the equally 

 famous dictum which he is said to have addressed to Hiero, 

 King of Sicily, ' Give me a fulcrum and I will raise the 

 earth from its place." 



That Archimedes, provided he had been immortal, could 

 have carried out his promise, is mathematically certain, but 

 it occurred to Ozanam to calculate the length of time which 



