Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1891 — THE MATCH PUZZLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MATCH PUZZLE.

It Has Pothered the Ingenuity of Many an Architect. Split slightly the end of one match, then cut slantingly the end of a second one, which is to be inserted in the divided end of the first, forming an acute angle. Place them on the table, the summit of the angle at the top, leaning against a third match, as presented below. These are all the preparations needed. Give a fourth match to any one present, asking him to lift by the aid of if

the first three matches which form the angle. This is the problem which is to be solved, and the figure held by the hand in the illustration shows the solution of it. It is only necessary to press the fourth match slightly against the first two in order to allow the third to fall on the one you hold, also to lower the hand so that this third one may drop into the hollow of the angle formed by the first two. Then lift the match that you hold in your hand, on which rests the combination of the three matches. Like all puzzles, this is very simple to those who know it, but I have seen many an eminent architect’s patience tried severely while doing it, says a writer in the Boston Globe.

THE MATCH THICK.