[net.sf-lovers] origin of 42?

smb (04/07/83)

For all you fans of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I just found this
passage in Alice in Wonderland [chapter XII]:

	At this moment the King, who had been for some time buisly
	writing in his note-book, called out "Silence!" and read out
	from his book, "Rule Forty-two.  All persons more than a mile
	high to leave the court."

	Everybody looked at Alice.

	"I'm not a mile high," said Alice.

	"You are," said the King.

	"Nearly two miles high," added the Queen.

	"Well, I shan't go, at any rate," said Alice; "besides, that's
	not a regular rule:  you invented it just now."

	"It's the oldest rule in the book," said the King.

	"Then it ought to be Number One," said Alice.