Foolometers, Part Second [pp. 467-474]

Foolometers.
sistible; as any one can see by sublstitutingthe wordcl stomach-ache (w%e beg pardc)n, wve should have said, abdominal
neuralgia,) for the word soul.
And as no man has ever seen, or touched, or handled zt pairn, so no man can, of
it ever stru ckil any on e h ow often this
formii (?) is used in those instruments or
tools (,r things, whichl are used to persuadIte, to dra,w, or to influence?
It wv,iild I)e worth our while to trace
thte orig,in of this symbol, and to ascert.aitt wietiher it had its original in the
(cr-oolked finger wvitlh which a pertinacious
qutestiey e will lho(ok himself on to a butto~n l(osll while, after the manner of a
leaden gniblet, he bores hiis bearer.
Yet this wvould mna-ke the interrog ation
iiark of very recent date —viz: since the
tinie of' button holes.
course, ever have one. tiiii whether it had its original in the
This sophist, armed with a Socratic (rooked finger witl which a pertinacious
weapon, is not so far out, however, as one ut r will lio(k himself on to a but would imagine; for there is a very wise ton lio while, after the manner of a
and learned nation of Northern Europe, leadei inblet, he bores Iis bearer.
called Lapl anders, in whose vocabulary Yet this would mke the interrogation
the words soul and stomaelh are synony- mark of very recent date-viz since the
mous; and at philosopher there maly have time of button holes.
a pain in his soul friom a fit of inrdi,ges- It may have derived its shape and use
tion, or from taking too much brandy into from tlhat persuasive instrument a Fish that ethereal organ. hook. thl i which nothing, more imperti We are inclined to think that thiis school n quisitiv~ is known. This instru of soulless philosophers is limited. And,. li tpplie'f e jaw too, and in an although it is true that in one sense ill it s summnionsrequires the thingto
mankind belo-g, at one pei'io(d o life, to -whi,l s ai)plied to follow a line, and
ths nation, (for all children i certainly he, li ie ma,,net, the direction of the
Laplandeis), yet they soon case to th-ink p, "
as children, putting away such childish he slepherd's crook, with which he
notions as soon as they get above tlhe idea colleets his sheep the Bishop's crosier,
of bread and butter. with whclih,, to axvannd, he governs
Indeed,we strongly suspect, that this his char6e~, an.vl*I(ich is the emblem of
class of philosophers belongs to that an- his ati', bIthi have this peculiar
cient sect, who are described l)y one in- sh i. t is both crook and crosier,
spired writer as having r sid in thleir healrts.r' -itli a note of interrogation on
No God; and whi(h anothler has still t p of it Y;
mtae grapliieally painted when he said, Tile attitude of the hand in calling or
'god is their belly. bekoiiing(; the bend of the fingers in
sve proved to our own satisfic- grasping; the very position of the knee
* this iuterio(,-ative )liilosophy is in stilppli(at ion, all exhibit the form of
-. i"';;i:' e mode of philosop)hizin(, and thlat this symbol, and cexpress its use and mean:*, * "- ates was deserving of,reat credit fior ing. The very g-rasp ofthe hand in greet..'*-:k~wntroducin, it itnto learned society. IIe in,g an acquaintance, contains an inquiry
treated it, however, pretty much as Aris- after his welfiare; and the clutch of a po otte did the Sylogism. Every one, even liceman upon a rogue, not only may be
I:clown, may be said to have sylog(ised considered as an interrogative act in
long before t!e time of Aristotle yet itself, lult also precedes a searching in this philosopher first dressed it up in new quiry into his conduct.
clothes, called it by a- hard name, and in- We miglit also seek a comparison in
troduced it as a bantling of his own. the shape of the key with which locks
Men founA that they had been using syl- and doors atire opened, and trace the an ogisms all their lives without knowing it. alogy between this interrogative office and
that of our Socratic mark.
THE INTERROGATIVE SIGN. And if any ob)ject, that keys are also
used to close and shut as well as to open,
We have given to Socrates the interrog- and that it symbolizes one as much as
ative mark as the form of an instrument the other, we ask in answer if we have
distinctive and peculiar to himnself, by never seen a foolish fellow shut up corn which he measured the human race. Itas pletely by an adroit question? Can we
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