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Re: John Napier's trick

From: <Rfbagby~at~aol.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 08:59:34 EDT
To: <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

This story is told in some form about almost every wise man or judge that has ever been known to mankind (Robert Graves, for instance, has the Emperor Claudius -- admitting it's an old gag -- do it in CLAUDIUS THE GOD.)
RF Bagby
In a message dated Thu, 5 Jul 2001 4:12:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl> writes:

<< Dear fellow Vernians,

I read a story about John Napier, the inventor of the logarithm. It can be
found e.g. at http://www.math.twsu.edu/history/Men/napier.html:

Another problem that needed solving was the suspicion that there was a
thief among Napier's new workers. Tools and supplies had been disappearing
but when kitchen tools vanished, Napier decided to take action. After all
the workers had denied any wrong doing, Napier gathered the workers and
told them he was going to use his truth telling rooster. Each worker was
to go in the dark storage room where the rooster was perched, pet it, and
then come out. After each worker had done this, Napier asked to see the
palms of their hands. Everyone but one worker had black palms. He knew
then, the thief was the one with clean palms. Because the guilty worker
didn’t touch the rooster for fear the rooster would know he was the thief,
he kept his hands in his pockets. But what the worker didn't know is
Napier had covered the rooster with lamp black. Those who had nothing to
hide petted the rooster, thus their hands turned black. But the guilty
one, who did not touch the rooster, came out with clean hands. Unorthodox,
yes, but very ingenious.

Would this be the source for the episode in Keraban-le-Tetu where a local
judge uses a goat in a similar fashion?

Regards,
Garmt.

>>
Received on Fri 06 Jul 2001 - 15:59:50 IDT

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