I had forgotten origin of this, and thought perhaps other
members might have also.Its use here doesn't seem to conform to definition from AHD/

"One day a person whose breath would easily cloud a mirror, he was so much alive, entered the office of The Rose of Dixie. He was a man about the size of a real-estate agent, with a self-tied tie and a manner that he must have borrowed conjointly from W J. Bryan, Hackenschmidt, and Hetty Green. He was shown into the editor- colonel's pons asinorum. Colonel Telfair rose and began a Prince Albert bow."

pons asinorum

SYLLABICATION: pons as·i·no·rum
PRONUNCIATION: pnz s-nôrm, -nrm
NOUN: A problem that severely tests the ability of an inexperienced person.
ETYMOLOGY: New Latin pns asinrum, bridge of fools (nickname of the Fifth Proposition in the Elements of Euclid, due to its difficulty) : Latin pns, bridge + Latin asinrum, genitive pl. of asinus, ass, fool.

Euclid's Fifth Postulate
If a straight line crossing two straight lines makes the interior angles on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if extended indefinitely, meet on that side on which are the angles less than the two right angles.