362.—­THE WASSAIL BOWL.

One Christmas Eve three Weary Willies came into possession of what was to them a veritable wassail bowl, in the form of a small barrel, containing exactly six quarts of fine ale.  One of the men possessed a five-pint jug and another a three-pint jug, and the problem for them was to divide the liquor equally amongst them without waste.  Of course, they are not to use any other vessels or measures.  If you can show how it was to be done at all, then try to find the way that requires the fewest possible manipulations, every separate pouring from one vessel to another, or down a man’s throat, counting as a manipulation.

363.—­THE DOCTOR’S QUERY.

“A curious little point occurred to me in my dispensary this morning,” said a doctor.  “I had a bottle containing ten ounces of spirits of wine, and another bottle containing ten ounces of water.  I poured a quarter of an ounce of spirits into the water and shook them up together.  The mixture was then clearly forty to one.  Then I poured back a quarter-ounce of the mixture, so that the two bottles should again each contain the same quantity of fluid.  What proportion of spirits to water did the spirits of wine bottle then contain?”

364.—­THE BARREL PUZZLE.

The men in the illustration are disputing over the liquid contents of a barrel.  What the particular liquid is it is impossible to say, for we are unable to look into the barrel; so we will call it water.  One man says that the barrel is more than half full, while the other insists that it is not half full.  What is their easiest way of settling the point?  It is not necessary to use stick, string, or implement of any kind for measuring.  I give this merely as one of the simplest possible examples of the value of ordinary sagacity in the solving of puzzles.  What are apparently very difficult problems may frequently be solved in a similarly easy manner if we only use a little common sense.

[Illustration]

365.—­NEW MEASURING PUZZLE.

Here is a new poser in measuring liquids that will be found interesting.  A man has two ten-quart vessels full of wine, and a five-quart and a four-quart measure.  He wants to put exactly three quarts into each of the two measures.  How is he to do it?  And how many manipulations (pourings from one vessel to another) do you require?  Of course, waste of wine, tilting, and other tricks are not allowed.

366.—­THE HONEST DAIRYMAN.

An honest dairyman in preparing his milk for public consumption employed a can marked B, containing milk, and a can marked A, containing water.  From can A he poured enough to double the contents of can B. Then he poured from can B into can A enough to double its contents.  Then he finally poured from can A into can B until their contents were exactly equal.  After these operations he would send the can A to London, and the puzzle is to discover what are the relative proportions of milk and water that he provides for the Londoners’ breakfast-tables.  Do they get equal proportions of milk and water—­or two parts of milk and one of water—­or what?  It is an interesting question, though, curiously enough, we are not told how much milk or water he puts into the cans at the start of his operations.