INTRODUCTION
interesting or informing little principle ; and puzzles that conceal no
principle whatever—such as a picture cut at random into little bits to
be put together again, or the juvenile imbecility known as the
" rebus," or " picture puzzle." The former species may be said
to be adapted to the amusement of the sane man or woman ; the
latter can be confidently recommended to the feeble-minded.
The curious propensity for propounding puzzles is not peculiar to
any race or to any period of history. It is simply innate in every
intelligent man, woman, and child that has ever lived, though it
is always showing itself in different forms ; whether the individual
be a Sphinx of Egypt, a Samson of Hebrew lore, an Indian fakir,
a Chinese philosopher, a mahatma of Tibet, or a European
mathematician makes little difference.
Theologian, scientist, and artisan are perpetually engaged in
attempting to solve puzzles, while every game, sport, and pastime is
built up of problems of greater or less difficulty. The spontaneous
question asked by the child of his parent, by one cyclist of another
while taking a brief rest on a stile, by a cricketer during the
luncheon hour, or by a yachtsman lazily scanning the horizon, is
frequently a problem of considerable difficulty. In short we are all
propounding puzzles to one another every day of our lives—without
always knowing it.
A good puzzle should demand the exercise of our best wit and
ingenuity, and although a knowledge of mathematics and a certain
familiarity with the methods of logic are often of great service in the
solution of these things, yet it sometimes happens that a kind of
natural cunning and sagacity is of considerable value. For many of
the best problems cannot be solved by any familiar scholastic methods,
but must be attacked on entirely original lines. This is why, after a long
and wide experience, one finds that particular puzzles will sometimes
be solved more readily by persons possessing only naturally alert
faculties than by the better educated. The best players of such
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