26 The Rev. S. Haughton on Hanging, considered from 



nooses hanging from a rope stretched from tree to tree, and 

 placed in the passage to their roost, seems rather to favour the 

 second interpretation, which is also aided by the words o>9 a(,y 

 ii;eLr)s KecfraXas e%ov, as if the women hung, like Bluebeard's 

 wives, "tit tat toe, all in a row \" 



It can be shown, from mechanical considerations, that the 

 first interpretation of this remarkable passage is not admissible ; 

 for, on the most favourable arrangement of the rope allowable, it 

 would not have been possible for Telemachus, Eumseus, and 

 Philcetius, even if aided by the " man that bent the bow," and 

 by the willing Euryclea, to have exerted the force necessary to 

 lift all the women into the air together. The mechanical pro- 

 blem is also worth investigating for its own sake. 



I shall assume, in order to simplify the conditions, that the 

 women are hung at equal distances along the rope, and that the 

 part of the rope joining the two lowest women is horizontal. 

 These suppositions are very natural, and have the advantage of 

 rendering the solution more elegant, without interfering seriously - 

 with its generality. 



Let a j, « 2 , . . . « 6 denote the angles made by the several por- 

 tions of the rope (reckoned from the top) with the horizon. 



Let 1\, T 2 , . . . T 6 denote the strain on each portion of the 

 rope. 



Let T 7 = X be the strain on the lowest or horizontal portion 

 of the rope. 



Let W denote the weight of one of the women. 



As the second half of the rope is supposed to be symmetrical 

 for the present, there are thirteen unknown quantities to be 

 found, viz. the six angles and seven tensions. From the well- 

 known principles of equilibrium of the funicular polygon, we 

 obtain the following twelve equations, which are all mechanical: — 



T, cosa ] = T 2 cosa 2 , (1) 



T 2 cosa 2 =T 3 cos« 3 , ...... (2) 



T 3 cosa 3 = T 4 cosa 4 , ...... (3) 



T 4 cosa 4 =T 5 cosa 5 , (4) 



T 5 cosa 5 =T 6 cos« 6 , (5) 



T 6 cos« 6 =T 7 =X . (6) 



fieldfares (Kt^Xat ravvo-lnrepoi), in trying to fly at the berries, are stopped 

 by their broad wings in passing through the nooses, and are so caught by 

 the neck, or occasionally by the foot, but most frequently by the neck ; and 

 the stratagem is so successful with this bird, that they are often found 

 hanging in a row from the stick, each suspended by the noose that passes 

 round his neck. 



