The clever youth suggested modestly to the master that the hand-holes were too big, and that a small boy might perhaps fall through them.  He therefore proposed another way of making the cuts that would get over this objection.  For his impertinence he received such severe chastisement that he became convinced that the larger the hand-hole in the stools the more comfortable might they be.

[Illustration]

Now what was the method the boy proposed?

Can you show how the circular table-top may be cut into eight pieces that will fit together and form two oval seats for stools (each of exactly the same size and shape) and each having similar hand-holes of smaller dimensions than in the case shown above?  Of course, all the wood must be used.

158.—­THE GREAT MONAD.

[Illustration]

Here is a symbol of tremendous antiquity which is worthy of notice.  It is borne on the Korean ensign and merchant flag, and has been adopted as a trade sign by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, though probably few are aware that it is the Great Monad, as shown in the sketch below.  This sign is to the Chinaman what the cross is to the Christian.  It is the sign of Deity and eternity, while the two parts into which the circle is divided are called the Yin and the Yan—­the male and female forces of nature.  A writer on the subject more than three thousand years ago is reported to have said in reference to it:  “The illimitable produces the great extreme.  The great extreme produces the two principles.  The two principles produce the four quarters, and from the four quarters we develop the quadrature of the eight diagrams of Feuh-hi.”  I hope readers will not ask me to explain this, for I have not the slightest idea what it means.  Yet I am persuaded that for ages the symbol has had occult and probably mathematical meanings for the esoteric student.

I will introduce the Monad in its elementary form.  Here are three easy questions respecting this great symbol:—­

(I.) Which has the greater area, the inner circle containing the Yin and the Yan, or the outer ring?

(II.) Divide the Yin and the Yan into four pieces of the same size and shape by one cut.

(III.) Divide the Yin and the Yan into four pieces of the same size, but different shape, by one straight cut.

159.—­THE SQUARE OF VENEER.

The following represents a piece of wood in my possession, 5 in. square.  By markings on the surface it is divided into twenty-five square inches.  I want to discover a way of cutting this piece of wood into the fewest possible pieces that will fit together and form two perfect squares of different sizes and of known dimensions.  But, unfortunately, at every one of the sixteen intersections of the cross lines a small nail has been driven in at some time or other, and my fret-saw will be injured if it comes in contact with any of these.  I have therefore to find a method of doing the work that will not necessitate my cutting through any of those sixteen points.  How is it to be done?  Remember, the exact dimensions of the two squares must be given.