gret any annoyance I may
have thus inadvertently given. May I hope that in future they will
recognise the distinction between severe language used in sober earnest,
and the "words of unmeant bitterness," which Coleridge has alluded to in
that lovely passage beginning "A little child, a limber elf"? If the
writer will refer to that passage, or to the preface to "Fire, Famine,
and Slaughter," he will find the distinction, for which I plead, far
better drawn out than I could hope to do in any words of mine.

The writer's insinuation that I care not how much annoyance I give to my
readers I think it best to pass over in silence; but to his concluding
remark I must entirely demur. I hold that to use language likely to
annoy any of my correspondents would not be in the least justified by
the plea that I was "quite certain of being correct." I trust that the
knot-untiers and I are not on such terms as those!

I beg to thank _G. B._ for the offer of a puzzle--which, however, is too
like the old one "Make four 9's into 100."

ANSWERS TO KNOT VIII.

Sec. 1. THE PIGS.

_Problem._--Place twenty-four pigs in four sties so that, as you go
round and round, you may always find the number in each sty nearer to
ten than the number in the last.

_Answer._--Place 8 pigs in the first sty, 10 in the second, nothing in
the third, and 6 in the fourth: 10 is nearer ten than 8; nothing is
nearer ten than 10; 6 is nearer ten than nothing; and 8 is nearer ten
than 6.

* * * * *

This problem is noticed by only two correspondents. BALBUS says "it
certainly cannot be solved mathematically, nor do I see how to solve it
by any verbal quibble." NOLENS VOLENS makes Her Radiancy change the
direction of going round; and even then is obliged to add "the pigs must
be carried in front of her"!

Sec. 2. THE GRURMSTIPTHS.

_Problem._--Omnibuses start from a certain point, both ways, every 15
minutes. A traveller, starting on foot along with one of them, meets
one in 12-1/2 minutes: when will he be overtaken by one?

_Answer._--In 6-1/4 minutes.

* * * * *

_Solution._--Let "_a_" be the distance an omnibus goes in 15 minutes,
and "_x_" the distance from the starting-point to where the traveller is
overtaken. Since the omnibus met is due at the starting-point in 2-1/2
minutes, it goes in that time as far as the traveller walks in 12-1/2;
_i.e._ it goes 5 times as fast. Now the overt