When Gulliver awoke and found himself bound (page 10), he felt something alive moving on his body. Bending his eyes downward as much as he could he saw it was a human creature not six inches high. We are at liberty to suppose that Gulliver was a man of ordinary height, that is to say, not six feet high. If the Lilliputian was “not six inches high,” what was the ratio of height between Gulliver and his miniature captors? If, then, Gulliver is twelve times the size of one of his captors, we have a standard of comparison.
How long a bow would a man use? How long would be the arrow that fitted that bow? How long would the bows and arrows of the Lilliputians be? Would an arrow that size, fired with the force a Lilliputian could give, “prick like a needle,” and if there were many of them would they set a man “a-groaning with grief and pain”?
If a man were lying flat on his back could he turn his eyes down so as to see a pencil, not six inches high, placed upright on his breast? When a man’s face was turned two inches to the left, how much of the ground would be concealed from his sight by his shoulder?
How far can a man shoot an arrow? How far could a Lilliputian shoot an arrow? Would an arrow the size of a Lilliputian’s falling from the height to which he could shoot it pierce the skin of a man?
How long were the spears of the Lilliputians? Is it reasonable to suppose that a leather jerkin would be proof against their spears? How tall was the page that held up the train of the “principal person.” (page 12)?
How many times the height of a Lilliputian was the body of Gulliver as he lay on the ground? How many rounds would there be in one of the ladders on which they climbed? “Above one hundred inhabitants” mounted the ladders and walked toward Gulliver’s mouth. They carried baskets filled with meat. Would the quantity of meat be too large for Gulliver to eat? Would the shoulders, legs and loins of a sheep one-twelfth the height of an ordinary one be “smaller than the wings of a lark”? Would loaves of bread the “bigness of musket balls” be one-twelfth the size of ordinary loaves?
In the case of two vessels of the same proportions, but of different heights, do the capacities vary according to the heights, or according to the cubes of the heights? If one of our hogsheads contain from one hundred to one hundred and forty gallons, how much should a Lilliputian hogshead contain to be in proportion?
Is it a fact that being one-twelfth the height of a man a Lilliputian should have one-twelfth of a man’s strength? If a man is reduced to one-twelfth of his height what should his weight be?
When they wished to move Gulliver, five hundred carpenters and engineers were set to work to prepare a frame of wood, which was raised three inches from the ground, was about seven feet long, four feet wide, and moved upon twenty-two wheels. What was the diameter of the wheels that would raise the body three inches from the ground? Would it be an easy matter to move wheels of that size when they bear a weight such as Gulliver’s must have been?
Knowing what we know of the Lilliputians could nine hundred of them using pulleys with cords “the bigness of pack-thread” lift Gulliver upon the engine in less than three hours?