Examples. Sets of Premisses
1. No ducks waltz;
All officers waltz;
All my poultry are ducks.
2. All puddings are nice;
All these dishes are puddings;
No nice things are wholesome.
3. No fat old men are active;
All wise men are old;
No unwise lawyers are fat.
4. All novels are exciting;
I have no books but novels;
Nothing exciting belongs to me.
5. All pencils are made of lead;
No rubbish is useful;
All lead-pencils are useful.
6. No buns are unwholesome;
No puffy currant buns are stale;
All new puffy food is unwholesome.
7. All rich noblemen are well-dressed;
All my friends are rich;
No well-dressed persons sweep chimnies.
8. All eels wriggle;
No eels wear boots;
Nothing, that wriggles and wears no boots, can act Shakespeare.
9. No unkind advice is welcome;
No welcome letters, that I have had to-day, are unanswered;
None of to-day’s letters, that I have answered, are kind.
10. No cats can sing well;
None of my household get any cream, unless they can sing well;
All cats get cream.
11. All boots are leather;
Anything made of buttered toast is good to eat;
No leather boots are good to eat.
12. There are no Jews in the street;
No Gentiles say “shpoonj”;
All my servants are in the street.
13. No hoofed animal has scales;
No pigs are destitute of hoofs;
No pigs, without scales, have wings.
14. Nothing, that is meant to hold fluids, is worth taking care of when broken;
All jugs are meant to hold fluids;
All useful things are worth taking care of.
15. All English sailors are light-hearted;
All sailors are enterprising;
None but Englishmen are enterprising.
16. All unripe fruit is unwholesome;
All these apples are wholesome;
No fruit, grown in the shade, is ripe.
17. No frogs are dignified;
All fat things in this garden eat greedily;
Nothing that eats greedily is fat, except a frog.
18. All bilious boys refuse buns;
All greedy boys are bilious;
No healthy boys refuse buns.
19. No pins of mine, that will bend, are useful;
Nothing made of steel will bend;
All my useless pins are made of steel.
20. All rolling stones are restless;
All stones are heavy;
All restless things, that gather moss, are light.
21. All respectable umbrellas are meant to open;
Useful old things should be preserved;
Things that are meant to open but will not do it, need not be preserved;
All new umbrellas will open;
What is old is always respectable.
22. No young crabs are melancholy;
All healthy policemen are sane;
No discontented judges are chickens;
All rich bakers are fat;
Some rich healthy young judges are unmarried.
23. Ungraceful creatures are thoughtful when left alone;
No elephants are graceful;
When one is disliked, one is left alone;
Thoughtful elephants are universally liked;
Ungraceful creatures, who are not fond of apples, are disliked.
24. All, who have lost their way and have not learned to dance, are unfriendly;
No gypsies, who have learned to dance, are wild;
All wild people, who have not lost their way, are uncivil;
All my nephews have lost their way;
All uncivil people, who are not nephews of mine, have learned to dance.
25. No invalids are unromantic civilians;
All architects are dreamy enthusiasts;
No lovers are hopeless;
No military men are dreamy;
All romantic enthusiasts are in love;
All who live on muffins are hopeless invalids.
26. All short-hand-writers are fit to be printers;
Salmon, that can read small print, have good eyesight;
No young folk need be pitied, unless they are short-hand-writers;
Those who have good eyesight do not wear spectacles;
Young folk, who have bad eyesight and cannot read small print, are not fit to be printers.
Those who cannot read small print are to be pitied.
27. No savage animals are trustworthy sentinels;
Mastiffs are domesticated wolves;
All warm-blooded domesticated carnivora have claws;
All quadrupeds are warm-blooded animals;
My property consists of savage quadrupeds;
A wolf, that wags its tail, may be trusted, even if it has claws;
There is nothing in this house but my dogs;
All dogs are carnivorous sentinels.
28. All the gay and hopeful are Germans;
All old gorilla-keepers are good-tempered;
All young captains are gay;
Those who are good-tempered need not take snuff;
No young Germans are experienced;
Melancholy old folk ought to take snuff;
People of experience do not keep gorillas, unless they feel out of spirits;
Young people never despair.
29. Ball-guests, who are caricatured, are sulky;
A conceited ball-guest is ridiculous;
A man who is pleased, and yet sulky, is a paradox;
Ridiculous ball-guests are caricatured;
Conceited people, if entertaining, are not avoided;
Frogs, who are never invited to balls, are unpopular;
People, who are sulky and ridiculous, are avoided;
A ball-guest, who is a paradox, is entertaining;
Popular people are pleased when they are caricatured.
30. All English aldermen are well-fed;
All the military men in my family are Hussars;
People with toothache are unhappy, even if well-fed;
All the English, who are not members of my family, are babies;
All the aldermen in my family are fat;
No well-fed gluttons are discontented;
No discontented foreigners are happy;
All active babies are aldermen;
No Hussars are lazy gluttons;
All happy babies are well-fed;
All lazy civilians are aldermen;
None of my family are ill-fed, except the babies.
[May, 1887.]