POPULAR FALLACIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 9 July 1925, Page 7

POPULAR FALLACIES.

PRICKING THE BUBBLE. The story is told of a fanner who, whilo waiting in Walter Scott's anteroom took up a dictionary to while away the passing minutes, and who afterwards confessed to the novelist that he fouJi<j the stories therein, very interesting, hut a "fit' s hort. The modern reader will iirid in

“Popular Fallacies.” explained and corrected by A. S. E. Ackermann (Old Westminster Pre»s), stories that are considerably longer than those of the dictionary and possibly of g.**ater interest.

There js the fallacy that George Washington, when a boy. cut down a cherry tree belonging to his father and that the latter told him he would rather have him (George) cut down 10.0(10 trees than tell one lie. The story of the hatchet and T J ie cherry tree and similar tales are quite apocryphal, having been coined by Washington’s most popular biographer, Weems. Nothing is known of Washington’s childhood, notwithstanding the many stories which have gathered about his name. NEWTON AND THE APPLE. Again Mr. Ackermann pricks the bubble : That the- fall of an apple suggested to Newton his theory of gravitation, and that having got the idea of Universal gravitation in 1665, he did not publish it till 1685, because in making some calculations he had used wrong data concerning the size and the mass of the eartli and waited until he obtained better data. Guess, the great mathematician, said •‘The history of the apple is too absurd. What undoubtedly happened was this: There comes to Newton a stupid importunate man, who asks him how-he hit upon his great discovery. When Newton had convinced himself what a noddle he had to do with, and wanted to get rid of the man, he told him that an apple fell on his nose; and this made the matter quite clear to the man, and he went away satisfied.” LITERARY FALLACIES.

These are two of the fallacies connected with biography. In the section dealing with literature there are given equally interesting examples. It is a fallacy that Aesop wrote ‘‘Aesop’s Fables,” because none of Aesop’s work are extant. It is a fallacy that Dick Turpin rode from London to York within twenty hours and that he did so on a horse named Black Bess. The famous ride from London to York, generally attributed to Turpin was in all probability accomplished by another highwayman, Nevison. who having committed a robbery at Gad’s Hill, at 4 a.m., appeared at York the same evening at 7.45 p.m., thereby establishing an alibi. MYSTERY OF LORD BACON. It is also a fallacy to suppose that ‘‘Lord Bacon” is the title of the famous scholar and essayist. SpeddingJ the well known biographer of Bacon, says: There can be no doubt that “Lord Bacon” is a title which never belonged to him at any time of his life, either by law or custom. When' and by whom it wa s first given flint I do not know; but it seem s to have become familiar by the middle of the seventeenth century. Bacon’s proper title was Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Albans. .

That the mask worn by “the Man in the Iron Mask” was made of iron is shown to be a gross fallacy; that the proverb. “Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child” occurs in the Bible, and that it was due to Solomon, is as far from the truth a s the belief that “He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb” is also found in Holy Writ. The former aphorism is really due to Samuel Butler, and it occurs in his satirical poem, “Hudibras,” although he may have obtained his inspiration from “Proverbs,” where the words occur: “He that spare th his rod liateth his son.” Biblical fallacies number among them that one which declares that Eve ate an apple in the Garden of Eden, and gave one to Adam, which" stuck in his throat, thus causing the first Adam's apple. There is not a word about an “apple” in Genesis ii.. and iii.. wherein is contained an account of the fall.

It is untrue that the Spanish Armada was defeated because a great storm arose; that the three white stripes on the collars of the sailors of the royal navy commemorate Nelson’s three great victories —the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar; that the Germans were the originators of the use of liquid fire in warfare; that Cleopatra billed herself by applying an asp to her bosom; that the Order of the Garter was originated in connection with the Countess 6f Salisbury accidentally dropping on e of her garters at a State hall.