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Monufacred in the USA it SECS ere a CeCe Caer akSAY LOYD'S book of taNgramsSAY LOYD'S book of tangrams Sam Loyd With an Introduction and Solutions by Peter Van Note sat kivir DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. eola, New Yor!Copyright Copyright ©1968 by Dover Publications, Inc. ‘Alright reserved Bibliographical Note “This Dover edition, fit published in 1968 and republished in 2007 is an ‘unabridged republication ofthe work oxiinaly published by Loyd & Compaay in 1908 The 1968 Dover eiton was published under he ie The Blghth Bok of Tan nd ade new ieroution an solutions prepared by Bett Van Note Library of Congress Catalogng-i-Publicaion Data Loyd, Sum, 1841-191 Tit book of tan) ‘Sim Loyd's bool of tangrams Sam Loyd; with an introduction ad solutions by Peer Van Note cn. ‘Oxghaly published; The Bub Book of tan. 1968. With nw intod. ISBN 0446-45220 Tr Tangrams 1. Van Note Peter, I ie I. Tike: Book of tengrams. avisonr3us2007 37d 206103550, Manuctred in the United Stats of America Dover Publications, In, 3T East 2 Stet, Mineo, NY. 11801INTRODUCTION TO THE DOVER EDITION ‘When Sam Loyd was a smal child, during the 1840s, « puzle called the Chinese pussle (which the French called the Chinese Ihead-breaker, and we know today asthe tangram) was the popu lar eraze throughout Asia, Kurope and the United States, The Chinese puzzle involved fitting « square, a parallelogram and five ‘tangles together to form various patterns—of which hundreds ‘were in circulation. “Young people are fond of puzales, and have often puzzled for hours over bits of wood called Chineve puzzle, to very little purpose,” complained an Kngish children's mage: sine in 1866 Nor were children alone in their fascination for the pusle; ‘among their elders, Napoleon Bonaparte, John Quiney Adams, Gustave Doré, Lewis Carroll and Hagar Allan Poe ae ll reputed ‘to have “puraied for hours” over thei ets of tangrams. A Freneh cartoonist depicted a family playing tangrams by dawn’s early light, while affairs ofthe houschold went rapidly to pot, "The tangram sete most prized by nineteenth-eentury pusale ‘buffs were those imported from China; they were of ivory, and beautifully carved. Less elaborate and leas costly were sets of ‘wooden pieces, and many people simply eut their own sets of tan rams from squares of sturdy cardboard. Edgar Allan Poe owned fone of the Chinese ivory sets; its seven pieces fitted together to form a square of @te'un (about 234 inches) to a sid, and about ‘onecighth of an inch in thickness. Each pioc, with its delicate ‘openwork carving, was a picture in itself, with seenes of lucky ‘ranes and smaller birds eavorting amid thickets of bamboo. Part ‘of the puzale was to figure out how to get the pisces back in their carved ivory box; the outside dimensions of the box, too, were about 24 inches to a side, by about half an iach in thickness. ‘Perhaps the reader can Rigure out how Poe put his act amay for the night. One eminent American tangram player of the nineteenth cen tury was John Singer of Philadelphia, grandfather of painter John Singer Sargent. Singer collected two books of tangraza patterns, which later passed on to his sister, Elizabeth Singer Loyd She in ‘tum passed them on to one of her sons, Sam Loyd. ‘Loyd recelled that his mother was “a devotee ofthe pastime, who took great delight in solving the puzsles and creating original designs.” Of Loyd himself, a friend once wrote: “The fates had faiven him in lange measure the endowment of genius, He could 00 at a glance what other people could see, oF atleast could be made to see, very slowly... He could see an idea from many fides at once; frst always from the point of view ofa puzale, then from the humorous standpoint, finally from the artiste aspect.” ‘Tangrams must have had a great appeal for Sam Loyd. ‘Yet it was not until 1908, when Loyd was sixty-one, that he finally got around to publishing his own book of tangram patterns By then, of course, he hed already triggered several puatle crazes of his own invention—the Pony Puzzle, the 14-16 Pussle, Pigs in (Clover the Trick Donkeys, among others. Even when allowing fr 1 busy life, which included at various times earvers in the music busines, the plumbing business and the publishing business, the reason why Layd waited from childhood to advanced years to vite end publish his tangram book remains » minor mystery. ‘A possible explanation lic in his friendship with the English punele expert, Henry Ernest Dudeney. Loyd spent many of hhours corresponding with people who shared his interests, particu larly where chess and puzzles were concemed, and Dudeney was ‘among his correspondents, Some time around the tum of the century, Dudeney purchased a small hook of tangram patterns ata sale of the estate of Lewia Carroll (Tt was Carroll's book, by ‘the way, that mentioned Napoleon as a tangram player.) Tn theirPart ofthe game of tangams inthe nineteenth century was to se mho could solve 1 given “Chines head breaker” frst. Pape i the winner in this French cartoon, ‘bakit tok him all night todo it (The seme pattern ison pase 20 of thin book.) letters, back and forth across the sea, Loyd and Dudeney un- doubtedly talked of Dudeney's new acquisition, of tangrams in {general, and probably even exchanged patterns, since atleast one fof the patterns in Loyd's book is known to have heen of Dudeney’s devising, Dudeney, #t should be added, made free use of Loyd's patterns in his own books and articles, It may be that they had tome exchange agreement between them, ‘Loyd called his book The 8th Book of Tan, Part I, promising huis readers that Part IT would be forthcoming. (So far as I know, this promise was never fulfilled, though I'm sure Layd had good intentions) He chose the ttle, he explained, because some four thourand years ago a Chinaman (or Chinese god) named Tan had compiled seven books of tangramn petters, of which—he said— books he had in ne muspects, were thote handed down fom Unele John ‘Singer. “The seven books of Tan,” said Loyd, “were supposed to ‘lustre the creation of the word and the origin of species upon 1 plan which out-Darwins Darwin, the progres of the human race being traced through seven stages of development up to myster- fous state which is too lunatic fr serious consideration.” ‘With that statement, scholars like British phiologist: Sir James Murray should have boen warned. In his own special way, {Loyd blended half-truths and popular suppostions about things Oriental with « few fgments of his own imagination; to this he ‘addled a few well-droppel names, and with a twinkle in his eye served the old puzale up in delightful mock-serious stew. Had Sir James looked more closely, he might have realized that Loyd's ‘whole essay was “too Innate for serious consideration.” Instead, ‘Sir James eibeskel on a search for the historical Tan. “One of my ons,” he wrote some years later, “is a professor in the Anglo- Chinese college at ‘Tientsin. Through him, his colleagues, and his students, I-was able to make inquiries as to the alleged Tan ftmong Chinese scholars. Our Chinese profesor here [at Oxford} tl took an interest in the matter and obtained information fromthe seeretary of the Chinese Legation ia London, who is & very ‘eminent representative ofthe Chinese literati. The result hes beet ‘to show that the man Tan, the god Tan, and the ‘Book of Tan’ are entitely unknown to Chinese literature, history, o tradition, ‘This is not to say that the pune, ieelf, was not known to the Chinese, Indeed, it was—and is—well known to them aa the nal of “seven clever pieces.” In addition ta purale sets in wood ‘or ivory, Chinese friends tell me of having seen or owned sets of dishes, lacquer boxes, and even small tables in the shapes ofthe seven pieces in China's pre-Communist days. While evidence of the puzzle’ origin is scanty, it appears that it was enjoying ‘vogue in China around the tum of the nineteenth century, shortly before it frst became popular in Europe and America. T own at 1854 reprint of book of Chinese patterns, written originally daring the reign of the Emperor Chia Ching (1796-1820); in his introduction, the author, who called himself “Guest under the “Mulberry,” tells how he came to compile the hook: ‘The game of Seven Clever Pesos [tangrams) is also known as ‘Making Pater. Iisso-alled boosie the gute involves shifting yeven Dieeesnbout and Sting them together to mele pietures, Last year, Toi Shu Tung of Yun Chien copied the patterns for ‘more than 160 tengrams he had sen, and had hem published for ae have not yet sen them. ‘Dut last summer, YI Yuan brought «ae of patterns from hi hose town to Soochow. To hit eallction, he added those devised by hit ‘brother, Chun Seng—mebing s total of mone th 20) tangratn pat ‘ems of which be showed to me, ‘As we had nothing better todo, ny omrades and [began exploring ‘the game, and we found ite posites tobe without Hn, Acting om ‘my suagestion, we added more than 100 additonal pattern, and com piled the entire eolstion in ne manuscript “athe than kee them to ouraeves we wih oshae these patterns ‘ith all who ae intrested in tangas, Pr this reaon, we have ab ritted our menusript for publi, Like the antiquity of the puzae, a question that may never be resolved for certain is the origin of the puzzles name, tangratn Loyd, of course, did not invent the word; its first recorded tse i inthe 1808 edition of Webster's Diaionary, It has been suggested that the word might have been coined by some American oF ‘British toymaker, but, 0 far as T know, this has not been proved. Sir James Murray thought the word might have been foraied by profixing the Chinese word fan, to extend, or fang, Cantonese Aislect for Chinese, to the suis, ~gram. Obviously, there is room for farther speculation. Webster's first use of the word tangram suggests that itis probably of American coinage. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to ‘ask, what were Americans doing in China around the turn of the nineteenth century? The fist ‘Yankee ships in Chinewe waters, following the American Revolution, were frecbooters; Logether with tho Portuguese, Dutch, Knglsh, French and Spanish, they partook of the lucrative Fer Eastern trade in tes sill, rhubsr, tnd other exotic goods. But their most profitable business was the business of smugaling opium into China. Not surprisingly, the records of these activities are few, but ‘enough is known to suggest how American and European sailors ‘might have acquired the game (and the name) of tangrams, With typical Oriental suspicion of “forcign devils.” the Emperor in 11745 had ordered all Chinese ports closed to foreign commerce, save only the port of Caaton. At Canton, trading for most goods twas permitted without restriction, but an import duty was placed ‘upon opium—about five dollars for the atnount a man could carry fon his back. This duty, of course, only served to encourage smuggling. Located some forty miles up the Peasl River from the open sea, Canton was not diectly accessible to foreign ship. ping; above "Whampoa, the river became too shallow for the Aeep-draft ocean-going boats. At Whampoa, the merchant ships had to transfer their eargo to shallow-bottomed Chinese river craft, which earvid the goods the remaining nine miles to the lings, warehouses maintained by the Americans and Europeans ‘along Canton's river's edge ‘With the transferl of legitimate wares by day, end opiut by night, American and European sailors came to know the ‘Chinese river boats well; whole families lived on these hosts, were born on them and died on them. In Chinese, these dwellers-on. theriver were called fanka, In addition to mercantile services tank women took in laundry forthe foreign sailor, whereas their daughters entertained them at night. (For whatever i's worth, ‘Chinese word for prostitute is fan.) It eannat be proved for eer- tain, but it seems a fair guess that the tanka girls might have {taught the sailors the puzzle of seven pices, and that the “tanka igeme” might have become “tangramn.”In compiling his book of tangrams, Loyd made no elim to hhaving originated any of them, though it is lear that some of the best—for instance, the Indian and his squaw on page $1— are his. Surprigngly, some of the most modem-looking of Loyd's| patterns are actually Chinese; some of buildings on page 10 are ‘called “foreign buildings” in old Chinese colletions, and probably represent some of the honge at Canton and Maeno. "The mysterious ‘Monad sign, several times cited by Loyd, is called a “peach in sy Chinese book. Loyd was fond of pusales based on paradoxes ‘nd unexpected solutions; the reader ean expect to find these ‘plenty in this book, His pair of topspinners on page 27 is an example; Loyd asks us whether the “top” helongs to the first oF ‘Second player, or whether it is an independent picee. We quickly discover that the first player is comprised of six pieces, 90 the ‘op must belong to him; and the second player must be made up of seven picees. But no matter how we try, the seven pieces do ‘not quite conform to the patter. Loyd's method (or the method think he used) isnot quite fai, but I hope the reader ean figure it for himelf without turning to the solution on page 81 Regarding the lutions, Loyd compiled wll over six hundred pattems in his book, of which we hve broken all but « small Inandful. Of these, a few would seem not to be tre tangrams; ‘hat is, they soem to require more or fewer pieces than the fall sevon-pioce tangram set, or some such manctver ax eubstituting ‘second midale-sized triangle for the parallelogram. However, T ‘am not prepared to label any of these patterns as “impossible”; itis said that a angram once declared by an expert as impossible was promptly solved in thirty-nine seconds by a ten-year-old Girl Seout. The reader may enjoy tackling these as yet solved problems for himset Several fiends shared in the fun of making this new edition of Loyd’s book possible. Dr. Frank Yee translated a number of old Chinese manuscripts quickly, and I believe accurately, Mart Gardner gave continual encouragement, and suggested some frit ful leads for research. Miss Edythe Bull, one of the sharpest tangram players I kaow, was generous in lending books fom her collection and in solving tome of Loyd’s more interesting patterns. ‘To these people, many thanks, But my deepest thanks to Tan— ‘whoever he was—for starting & good thing. Patan Vax Nore Now York, New York Tauary, 1968 FURTHER READING ON TANGRAMS Considering the long history and popularity of the parle, the ‘rata of tangrems is remarkably small, and much of i appllinaly ‘wiv. The following books, however all curently avaiable, are par tielerly recommended “Asrusanete in Methomatice, Henry Es Dudeney (Dover). A cla pole potpour. In sn amsing prologue to an ingenious tangeun parndon” be facades about two doeen dlightfel peters, most of them of his own devising Pechape to perpetuate the joke, Dudeney repeats Lay's account af the “Seven Books of Tea.” "The ond Seonifc Amerisan Book of Maltematicl Puss & Diver sions, Martin Gardner Simon & Schuster), based upon the sathor’s ‘atertaining "Mathematical Game” columns. Mathomatia sielights ‘of tangrams are discussed in one chapter illustrated with 16 patter Tengrams, $90 Passes, Ronald C. Read (Dover). The limitless posites of the puzale ae an obvioos fscoaton to Reed, and be pores them wih gears, For the most pat is patterns re fom Loyd Chine manderipts or of his own exelent invention. A chapter on the Chinese 15-poce tangram is an unusual and weloome feature. Sotto ineuded Tangroms, Pisure-Making Pusle Game, eter Van Note (Tut) “The atic side ofthe pce shown through mee than 100 patteras combined into 20 ively tangam tableau. About half the peters are from Dudeney’s pale columns of the old Strand magaine, making this posably the largest coletion of Dudeney’stangreme avalale Solutions and «seven piece set includedPUBLISHERS LoyD &CO.xewvonr. ‘The cover design ofthe criginal edition,{NESE IANCRAMG Sy Sam "Lovo ‘grams is of very ancient origin, and has been played in China for upward of 4,000 years, somewhat in the nature ‘of « national pastime. I consists of seven fat pieces of wood, cat upon the geometrical angles of 45 and go degrees, with staight ‘edges which ft together so a8 ¢0 prodace a variety of changes hich bafles the scence of mathematics to compute Webster's dicionary merely mentions Tangrams as being used in primary schools for elementary kindergarten instruction According to one authority, “the simple shapes are eminently suitable for illustrating limited number of plane geometrical figures ‘The sim of this work is to show the unlimited range of those possbiliies, and to explain, in the language of truthful James A, SEORDING i» eeepmy othe gue of Tan a Ng + Wich Fi ema — And my lnguage be pa— ‘A Sr cs tbat ean, ‘The haber Cine pct Wik he sme T woul le oe” ‘There are so many popular editions printed in puzale-book form that iti safe to say that itis known throughout the entire world as a very simple little pastime, suitable for the juvenile, ‘Through that unfortunate misconception of the scope of the si cence, 8 it should be termed, it has failed to be properly appre- ciated. ‘The finest figures have been thrown out as impossible of construction, and the important and fascinating feature of orig- inating new designs entirely omitted. Os Fed2 ANTIQUITY AND SCOPE OF TANGRAMS, In this fesble attempt to do justice to the grandeur of the original conception, it must be understood that each and every fone of the illustrations requires « complete set of Fangrams. Te constitutes, therefore, a unique collection of puzzles, wherein the object eto guess the names of the subjects to discover their con- ‘struction and penetrate the mysteries which surround them, a8 wel a to originate new and artistic design with the same limited number of pieces. easy ‘At fmt we are amazed at the unfitness of the shapes of the pieces with which we are expected to accomplish so much. The ‘number seven isan obstinate prime which cannot be divided into symmetrical halves; and the geometrical forms, all alike, with harsh angles, preclude the possibility of variety, curves, oF BFace- fal lines. “Many puzzlsts have invented catup pictures, where twenty arta) According to the late Professor Challenor, whose posthi- ‘mous papers have come into the possession of the writer, seven books of Tangrams, containing one thousand designs each, are known to have been compiled in China over 4,000 years ago. ‘These books are so rare that Professor Challenor says that daring 4 forty yeas’ residence in China he only succeeded in seeing per fect editions of the first and seventh volumes, wth stray fragments ‘or mote pieces are to be put together to make some form, which is not so unique as many of these. No genius has ever been able to make 2 good puzzle where pieces ret together, 0 a 10 make a second object, and yet here are only seven angular pieces, ‘which, without any omissions, duplications or lapping of edges, tive free rein to the imagination, to produce ten thoustnd difler- ent designs ‘of the second, In this connection it may be mentioned that por- tions of one of the books, printed in goldleaf upon parchment, were found in Pekin by an English soldier and sold for £300 to 4 colletor of Chinese antiquities, who kindly furnished some of, the choicest designs presented in this work. According to Pro- fessor Challenor, the many specimens of Tangrams which have ‘been published from time to time in small volumes, in the form‘of wellknown colletions, are extracts from what might be termed Chinese catechism, designed to elucidate the diferent features of the original works. OF these small books there are about twenty ‘The seven Books of Tan were supposed to illustrate the creation of the world and the origin of species upon a plan which foutDarwins Darwin, the progress of the human race being traced through seven stages of development up to 2 mysterious spiritual state which is too lunatic for serious consideration. Here are some specimens from the frst book, which may possibly relate to what Hluxley would term the era of protoplasm, as they do not suggest anything else that can be thought of Professor Challenor mentions thatthe Sirs figure in each of, the original works is evidently designed to represent the Chinese Pit 5% In speaking of Chinese philosophy, Dr. Scott says: “They claim that the ilimitable produced the extremes the great extreme the two principles; the two principles produced the four dimen- sions, and from the four dimensions were developed what the Chinese call the eight diagrams of Feuhi, over 3,000 years ago.” Al of which may be made to appear more tangible later on. ‘Alongside of the Mond stands the Swastika symbol, which Professor Thomas Wilson, of the Smithsonian Institue, proves, ‘nis great work of 500 illustrations, to be the oldest human sym- ‘THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 3 varieties, imited, however, to 2 selection of the poorest and less important subjects, after the following symmetrical style, as the Publishers merely present them in the nature of juvenile puzzles fiws Monad or symbol of Deity, but gives 2 mistaken interpretation of the next figures as perttining ta chaotic era. ‘The second form is evidently designed to give the white part of the symbol surrounded by black. (See the sign of the Monad as the illustrated tilepage.) ‘The Rev. Dr. Holt, who discovered that the Northern Pacic Railroad had wnwitingly adopted the Monad at their seal, describes the parts as the Yen and Yin representing the male and female principle of Chinese cor fmogony. Iam indebted to Chief Engineer McHenry, of the ROB" Raitroad, for mich valuable information onthe subject af HS bol known to science. It means in Sanskrit, “good forcane.” But Profesor Whitney the profound archeologist, explain its defsition in Chinese to mean “many long years.” ‘The other figures which follow may represent chaos, as suggested hy Pro- fesor Challenor, or pertain to ancient symbole of ‘unknown significance; but it isa fact that Dr. Schliemann, in his excava- tions of the seven ancient cities, found many well-defined figures, Tike the following, which appear in the popular collections of ‘Tangrama: —_PRIMITIVE FORMS OF LIFE, Sew VFI “There is a popular litle evolution word-game, to convert ‘one word into another throagh 2 chain of proper words by merely changing one letter at a time: as, for example to turn pe into man by seven changes—ape, aye, dye, die, din, Dany man, This porzlegame gives an excellent idea of the Chinese faonnecting links in the development of species. There being Seven pieces in each design maker it powible by the slightest ‘change to bring about # resemblance to some other abject. So ive are thus led by a connecting chain through all the species of birds, animals, and fishes, and, 28 a matter of fact through the ‘whole eategory of everything else. In many instances we are Confronted by a clever purzle in the nature of a challenge to Aiscover the best connecting link between two forms. “The opening pages of the frst book of Tan illustrate the primitive forms of life, by the following weied specimens of germs, wiggles, and squirmers, which might readily be taken for Profetsor Koch's latest discoveries of microbes and baci, or a rmicroscopical exhibit ofthe inhabitants of a drop of water SueTHE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 5 ‘The succesive stages of development would scem to indicate that our greatgrandtather, after sporting in the guise of tadpoles, shimmers, eels, and lobsters, evolved through a school of fishes, just as tangible as that described by Lewis Carroll in “Alice in Wonderland,” and made his débat upon land in the form of a tortoise: Sey After sporting in the form of insets birds, and animals, through progressive chains of evolutions mich savor of pagan mythology, the coanestng lnk of our ancestral baboon is strongly inevidence, as shown inthe fraternal greeting of the monkey man: Ere It is worthy of note that the Rev. Dr. Holt says, in his recently published interview, that Chinese research has “caused ‘many philosophers to speculate as to whether the comogonies and theologies of the westera nations didnot originate in the Orient” ‘That everything emanates from God Tan, and is endowed with the “seven attributes,” to say the least, is unique and logical, for each figure being constructed out ofthe same seven pieces makes the transition from one to another an easy one. ‘The remarkable face of each piece being susceptible of subdivision into a set of simaler tangrams, and that any figure may be built larger by the audition of extra sets, is held to represent the principle of growth in nature, as well as the problem of infinity, somewhat according to Dean Swift's famous interpretation: + Gr fs hve te as pone bk it omy ‘A ie hee le en nd in, ‘And he pest asa tm ave por Bo go ‘Whee agin ate pote lad pros W008”6 ORIENTAL EVOLUTION, “We are then introduced to a aymber of crude and misshapen figures of men und women, which, through # gradual change of Haare and faabions of costume, develop into graceful posings and foupa: which display considerable artic ability and sense of Femur "Many of the designs, supposed to be illustrative of the pvancement of the human race, are weird cetaurlooking com FaRioce with diferent animals, possibly representing connecting Tinks of evolution, with which the ancients were more familiar thes the present generation. In thee intances are to be found the combination of 4 goose or duck with what bas been taken t0 ea thing aqirel, probably to show a certain connection between water, ar, and extth. Tere are the fast four representations of the human race, followed by others which show 2 gradual improvement in form. isk “That these primitive and imperfect representations of men and animals are purposely crude and distorted is self-evident ftom the fact of their being reproduced afterward with 2 perfection tnd regard for the details and characteristic of the subjects which Challenges our sdmiraton. “The theory of the connection links between the various forms of life clearly antedates Darwin, Haeckel, and Huxley by some Ghousands of year, jst as in similar way itcan be proven that rmedes, Pythagoras, and Eaclid must have known of the aairvook of Tan, which deals largely in matters of tigonom Sry and geometry in a way that larly aniipate che claims of Shove great mathematicians. Sp tee "The famous 47th problem of Euclid, known as Pons Aino- rm, and the familar illustrations of hexagons, triangles, chon olds, and polygons, are identical with the second book of Tan. ‘is well known that one of Buclis books, which i said to have been lost, was devoted to fallacies tricks, and impossible problems, for the pupils to detect the errors. ‘The greater part PF the second book of Tan is built upon similar surprises oF lus of a subtle nature, | Many of these problems are inten tionally impossible of solution, or at least beyond he ability of the wien, while othere are given on a deceptive sale of size hich misleads che eye. There js also a curios trick connected wok ouany of the forms necessitating the turning over of the Thomboid piece, whichis very tantalizing. Tt may be sad facie ‘Tecaly thatthe antiquity or postion of some of che designs can erupprosimately determined by these tricky features, which occur ‘nly in the fist ewo books.‘These puzzles, mathematical problems, and fallacies are treated more fally later on; but as a few words of explanation at this point wil be of assistance, we wil take a look atthe follow ing display of shoes, wherein the taming over of the rhomboid piece has to be utilized. In the “tilors gooses” we havea simple ‘ersion ofthe paradoxical fallacies which wil be introduced again in more dificalt form. The first, as may be seen, is constructed ‘with seven pieces while the other one, supposed to be ofthe same form and size in every respect, is buile with only six pieces and hnas e superiuons triangle. It being self-evident that the same form and dimensions cannot be constructed with a diferent nam ber of pieces, we are asked to determine which is correct. Connecting Li Hung Chang's statement that he “knew all the figures of the seven books of Tan before he could talk,” with his remarkable and hitherto unexplained reference to Tangrems asbeing a progressive philosophy with seven interpretations," we get some idea of the cope of the work as described by Professor Challenor. He says that Confucius makes several allsions t0 Tangrams, which he likens to “a game where the babes lea the form of things; youths exercise their wits: men study mathematics; artists get designs: posts fire the imagination, and the wise pon der over the past, present, and future. ‘The philosopher Choofootze is tid to have discoursed at LI HUNG CHANG'S INTERPRETATIONS. 7 A Ei Frade ‘The Chinese are wonderfully prolix in the treatment of a subject, and wil sing the changes upon every posible variation, a if it was an allimportane point to show that 2 certain figure Can he constructed in many different ways. ‘The designe of the six shoes are taken from a Chinese book published in Canton in 1690, which shows three styles of heels, six kinds of toes, and six dif ferent tops, all of which being interchangeable upon a permutative basis should prodace 108 diferent styles, more or lest, and we are coolly asked to gues the possible number of changes! Tn many instances the designs are marked with a number, which is supposed to tell in how many different ways the same ‘object can be constructed or varied. > length upon “the seven interpretations of Tangrams” although the same does not appear in any of the wise sayingy ascribed to him; 30 we are compelled to acept the views of Confucius, which were so happily endorsed by Li Hung Chang in his description of the pastime. Many of the forms may readily be named, yet we detect certain progresive degree of diffculty, suggestive of a purzle feature combined with avery instructive ychool of design. Te may be of interest at the present stage of the game to challenge the reader to guess the following subjects, which will be referred €0 gin ae peraining to an important featae of the work:8 DORE, CARROLL, AND NAPOLEON. Te can be proven that the seven volumes were written at