An Incomprehensible Chart of the Formation of Thought, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, and the Found-Absurd

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post        The Unintentional Absurd series

I bet people haven't seen those two names connected by the word "and" before--I haven't. But there is a tiny connection, and then we'll need not to associate the names ever again. 

Tim Wallace shared today (on Twitter, @wallacetim) in the interests of the display of information this chart of the formulation and evolution of a thought--it goes from surprising, to almost-interesting, to perplexity, to "huh?", all in very short order; at that point the chart turns into a bad alphabet soup.  It appears in the collected works of William H. Seward--the man who would become Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State¹. (And by the way, Donald Trump should be advised that delegate numbers necessary for nomination are not "made up" by "some guy", and that it is not "unfair" to him that others were running in the primaries, and that brokered conventions will not lead to bloodshed, and that good things come out of the brokered convention. William Seward led the delegate count for the presidential nomination for Republican candidate in 1860 but did not command a majority; the convention was brokered, and lo! and behold, Abraham Lincoln became the candidate. Same story for Woodrow Wilson.)

In any event this is an argument from Seward's law career shared in his collected works, and in this section he tells the story of his encounter with Dr. Thomas C. Spencer (of Geneva) and his testimony against his client, and the presentation of this chart. Seward does a pretty good job of booting Spencer through the door with his "incomprehensible" bouts of knowledge. The chart I include because of its humbug complexity and its found-Outsider nature.  

Thanks again to Tim Wallace for sharing this.

•  Image source:  William Henry Seward, The Works of William H. Seward,  edited by George Baker, (Volume 1), Redfield, 1853, pp 463-466. Found at Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ov7OvmgxaAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

And Mr. Seward's interpretation of the chart, after which comes some rebuttal.  I think it really isn't worth pursuing this chart any further beyond the comfort of knowing that it does exist, and that with a little color and some drawings, it would be a fine piece of Art Brut. 

 Notes:

1. Seward was a very highly accomplished person, and as a matter of fact he was U.S. Secretary of State from 1861-1869; he was also, earlier, the governor of New York and a two-term U.S. senator.