physiology class a question somewhat like this: "Do you consider it
advisable, taking into account the fact that none of the vital
processes go on as vigorously during sleep as during the waking hours
(you remember that the breathing and the pulse are less rapid and the
temperature of the body also lower), to eat just before retiring at
night, especially if one is very tired and exhausted--a condition
which still further lowers the vitality and hence decreases the powers
of digestion and assimilation, and would your answer be different if
it is understood that the food taken is to be light and easily
digested?"

It is needless to say that the class found themselves lost in the maze
of conditions and parenthetical expressions and did not attempt an
answer. The question contains material for a dozen different
questions, and probably the class could have answered them all had
they been properly asked.


6. _The principle of definiteness_

Questions should be definite, so that they can have but one meaning.
It is possible to ask a question so that its general meaning is clear
enough, but so that its _precise_ meaning is in doubt. Such questions
leave the pupil puzzled, and usually lead to indirectness or guessing
in the answer. Failure to make questions definite, so that they can
have but one meaning is responsible for much of the difference of
opinion on disputed questions.

Many a stock question upon which amateur debating societies have
exercised their talents would admit of no debate at all, if once the