The amazing Professor Van Dusen . . .
. . . by Jacques Futrelle, introducing a main character, in a nice bit of deadpan:
Professor Van Dusen was remotely German. For generations his ancestors had been noted in the sciences; he was the logical result, the master mind.
First and above all he was a logician. At least thirty-five years of the half-century or so of his existence had been devoted exclusively to proving that two and two always equal four, except in unusual cases, where they equal three or five, as the case may be.
He stood broadly on the general proposition that all things that start must go somewhere, and was able to bring the concentrated mental force of his forefathers to bear on a given problem.
Incidentally it may be remarked that Professor Van Dusen wore a No. 8 hat.
Well I should say so.
Blithe Spirit 