German to English Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

Greetings treasured Colleagues!
I would be truly grateful for your assistance here. I have several options, but am hoping you can either confirm one of them or offer something more expressive. Lucius is being examined for military service. One of the tests is described thus:

A chair equipped with braces was suspended from a wagon-wheel. Another man stood next to a crank which obviously served to turn the wheel. Lucius stared at the instrument in amazement. A diminutive man impatiently pulled Lucius over to the structure and pressed him onto the chair. He instructed Lucius to look up at the sky through the spokes of the wagon-wheel. This was no easy task, as the sun was positioned directly over the wheel. Lucius squeezed his eyes lids tightly, leaving open only the barest slit

and then,

„Fertig?“, fragte der kleine Mann.
„Fertig wofür?“, fragte Lucius verwundert.
„Schau einfach durch das Rad!“, erwiderte der andere. Beim Kommando „Los!“ begann der Mann an der Kurbel, diese zu betätigen. Das Rad begann sich zu drehen und Lucius starrte wie hypnotisiert darauf. Es wurde immer schneller und schneller. Bald begann die Umgebung um Lucius herum zu verschwimmen. ####Was sollte das Ganze?### Er fühlte sich ganz dumm im Kopf, starrte aber weiterhin unverwandt auf das Rad, wie ihm befohlen worden war. Der Mann hatte offenbar aufgehört, an der Kurbel zu drehen, denn das Rad verlor an Schwung und wurde langsamer.

My translations are:

1. What's the point of all this?
2. What is this supposed to prove? (my current favorite)
3. What is this good for?

None of them really capture the tone. Any brilliant ideas?