This game is well worth trying, even if it was known to France in the eighteenth century. To play this game there must be no more than nine in the company. State that while you are absent from the room one of the company must slip a ring on any joint of any finger he may choose. Also number each person as 1, 2, 3, etc.; the right hand 1, the left 2, the thumb 1, index finger 2, second finger 3, etc.; the first joint of each finger—that is, at the extremity—1, the second 2, and the third 3.
For example: suppose that the fifth person has the ring concealed on the first joint of the fourth finger of the left hand. To solve the problem it is necessary to discover the numbers 5, 2, 4, 1, which is done as follows. Ask some one to double the first number, or that of the person (which will give 10), and to subtract 1; ask him to multiply the remainder (9) by 5 (giving 45); next, to add the number (2), and then 5 (which will make 52). Ask him to double this number (giving 104), and to subtract 1 (leaving 103); to multiply this remainder by 5 (giving 515), and to add to this product the third number (4) or that standing for the finger (which will give 519). Next ask him to add 5 (giving 524), and from the double of the sum (1048) to subtract 1; to multiply this remainder by 5 (giving 5235), and to add to this 1, standing for the joint. In the last place, ask him to again add 5, equalling 5241. The figures of this number will indicate, in order, the number expressing the person who holds the ring, and the hand, finger, and the joint on which it was placed.
With a little practice you will be able to successfully gull your audience, having first given each person a pencil and paper wherewith to make the calculations.
Vincent V. M. Beede, R.T.F.
A Prize-Puzzle Story.
When I was going to St. Ives, you know about my meeting with that man who had seven wives. Well, the man, wives, sacks, cats, kits, and the rest were coming from St. Ives, and, being interested, I sat down by the road-side and asked the party about their journey thither. And this is what the man told me:
"It's a roundabout journey, this one from St. Ives, and queer things are to be seen on the way. Why, we came through a county in North Carolina (1) where nobody ever slept, and we saw on a sign-board this:
"'Be cordial to all your fellow-beings. Just cordial, and no more. Before counting them as friends, be sure you can trust them, and are certain of their true and generous confidence.'
"Notice.—Take every ninety-ninth word in the foregoing, arrange them in the order in which they are written, and you will have a good maxim (2).