CHICKAGO'S TEAZER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9142, 25 August 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHICKAGO'S TEAZER.

Some forty-five letters have been forwarded to " Mercutio " anent this wretched puzzle, and one correspondent actually seems to think that a special editor has been engaged, as he addresses his letter to "The Hen and a-Half Editor." In future all answers must be accompanied -by the eggs, "not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith." The following replies have been received : —" M.W.M." (Toka Toka), 28 ; " Yankee" (Waimauku), 30 eggs " if the hens laid an egg each as soon as time was called, say at midnight on Sunday," otherwise 28; " E. 5.8." (Thames), 56 ; " P. W. 8." (Matakohe), 28, solved arithmetically and algebraically (no "silly catch," Mr. B.) ; " P.W.G.8." (son of Mr. B.)-, 28 ; "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo", (Thames), 24 (he says the hens don't lay on the 7th day); "E.R.F." (Auckland), 28 (in a page of foolscap he proves this must be correct); C.C." (Mangare), 1$ eggs; "H.L." (Mackaystreefc, Thames), 31£ or 21 ; " R.E." (Midhirst, Taranaki), 21 ; " J.M." (Parnell), 84 ; " J.S." (Parnell) admits the force of " Mercutio's" logic, by which he proved last Saturday that half a hen can lay half an egg, and now makes the answer, 0; "E.J.W." (Auckland), 27; "CL.W." (Auckland), 78; " F.F." (Parnell), li (" the six whole hens," he says, " cannot be reckoned," but he gives no reason for this libel on the "chuckies"); "Billy Bogs" (Parnell), 28 (" kindly forward P. 0.0. for the amount of the prize," hesays, "or else an order on a city hotel for drinks." Certainly, Mr. Boggs ; shall we say egg-flip? If so, send along 28 eggs, please.); " A.C." (Remuera), 22 (" A.C." should give her name, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith) ; " A.W." (Rutland-street, Auckland), 31J ; "R.G." (Grafton Road), 192 ; " J.M.," 0 (" No such monstrosity as a hen and a-half," he says) ; "Evangeline" (Ponsonby) gives 21, and says " Oui." (Non, mademoiselle, c'est pas "oui"du tout); "Flora M." (Manurewa), 42 (Flora says half a hen is an inanimate object, and so can't lay eggs. If this is true of the half-hen, it must be true of two half-hens ; but the whole hen equals two half hens, therefore one whole hen is an inanimate object; " Milly," 23 1-3; " A.S.F." (Mangere), 63; " R.M." (Ponsonby), 28; « W.W." (Panmure) says the hens don't lay the eggs "in seven days," they lay them "in their nests;" " S.S." (Ohaupo), 40 ; " Schola-puella," (Bombay), 28 (mea carissiina doctissima puellula timeout tu es non recta) ; " P.H.8.5." (Wairangi), 2S ("P.H.8.5." says he is a schoolboy and wants a knife, so he hopes he will win the prize offered by the Press); "W.S." (Kihikihi), 21; "H.H." (Mount Roskill), makes it 28, and " can't see anything difficult about it" S.J." (Ponsonby), 2) "A,8." (Wairoa South), 56; "G. 5.8." (Manurewa), 535; " Flora M." (Manurewa) sends a second letter in which she says "half-a-hen cannot possibly lay an egg ;" no person said it could lay a whole egg, but there is nothing to prevent it laying a half-egg ; F.S." (Te Awamutu), 24; "E.C." (Mount Eden) says "28 cannot possibly be wrong." "Ego" (Auckland) sends a learned disquisition covering four pages of foolscap proving that the hens "would lay 30 eggs in each of the first two weeks from starting and 24 in the third, so the answer must be 30 or 24." He also encloses a diagram like a bit of tape with a piece marked off for each day and night, and black dots showing the eggs. "Mercutio" est tristissimus quod non potest donare omnes litteras ab " Ego" de novo. " T.C.H." (Hamilton) writes again to say the answer is 84, and continues in the following amusing strain : — " Since I tried to solve the hen problem a number of people have been asking me to explain it. This has nulled my feathers, and I want it publicly known that if henny man in future eggs me on to addle my brains by explaining this foul s(h)ell I will sit on him. I had trouble enough in hatching the blamed thing; it kept me from my roost a night and a half, and without anything in my crop for a day and a half ; and just now a man told me I was crowing, and offered to lay me odds it was all cackle on my part. I felt inclined to «lit his gizzard, and would have done so— by great Brahma, I wouldonly I was afraid of the beak, so I contented myself by telling him to go to—well—say, Shanghai." "A.8.C." (Mauku) makes the answer 39A or li ; and "A.J.D." (Auckland), gives 27 '9. "Migale" says the answers seem " heneggshaustible," but thinks 24 is right, as " the six hens would lay six eggs in a day and a-half, and four times that number in six days ; the seventh day not affording a complete period for the laying of any more eggs. Moreover, the hens being standard (fourth standard) birds, whose moral education had been cared for, of course they rested (or roosted) on the seventh day." "Migale" sends another egg puzzle, but "Mercutio" has had enough of them, and prefers not to publish it. "D.H.R." (Queen-street), sends a clipping from an American paper, containing the solution alleged to have been given by the inventor. It is as follows : — " The egg problem, which has caused so much anxiety among mathematicians in all parts of the country has been solved by the New York Tribune, the paper in which it first appeared. The inventor of the tangled problem offers the following solution : — Dispensing with the fractions and reducing the days to hours, and remembering that it takes one hen thirty-six hours to lay one egg, we reach the same result, by what some may regard as a somewhat clearer process of reasoning. If it takes a hen 36 hours to lay one egg, she will lay as many eggs in seven days, or 168 hours, as 36 is contained in 168. Now, 36 is contained in 16S four times, with a remainder of 24 —that is, a remainder of 24 hours. It is true that at this juncture, at the end of the seventh day, the hen has two-thirds of the work done in the construction of another egg, and that in twelve hours more, or after 12 hours of the eighth day shall have elapsed, she will be able to produce it; but as ' time-' is called on her at the end of the seventh day, or at the end of the 168 th hour, she can only be given -credit for the number of eggs actually laid at that time, which is four. Thus we see that one hen in seven days actually lays only four eggs, and that six hens in the same period would lay 6 x 4 = 24 eggs." Against this, however, must be set the statement of "an infuriated Scotchman," who writes to the Wellington Press, that Chickago's Teazer has been going the round of the United States, and was started by the Boston Herald, and no answer has been received as correct so far. Hence, he argues, no person in New Zealand can possibly know the answer. To this the Press editor replies that " the Boston Herald cribbed it from the Evening Press, and it is only another instance of Yankee cheek."

The following amusing story is told by the Press : At a public meeting in a wellknown rural capital a few evenings ago the distinguished local politician who had called the meeting, at the close of his address, announced in the usual manner his willingness to answer any questions that might be asked him. Upon this up rose a solemn man from the body of the hall, and cried aloud, "Mr. Muggins, sir, I want to ask you if a hen and a-half lay an egg and ahalf in a day and a-half, how many eggs will six hens lay in seven days ?" The "question " was received with shrieks of hysterical laughter and frantic applause from all parts of the house. The chairman fainted ; the candidate got out a window at the back, and has not been heard of since ; the lights burned blue and then went out, and the meeting broke up in hideous confusion. At the inquest on the solemn man next day the verdict was, " Died of spontaneous eggsplosion." "Mercutio" has received a number of correct replies to the fish puzzle (40 feet), and copies of other puzzles kindly forwarded by correspondents, but he has not room for them this week. The betting puzzle seems to have been too stiff for readers, as only two answers have been received. '