THE PARLOR-GAME CURE. 531 



and a sounder, more refreshing sleep, if his mind can be diverted 

 for an honr or two to some different train of thought, which 

 ought to be barely interesting enough to keep his attention with- 

 out producing excitement or requiring strong exertion. 



Two elements which enter into a game are of prime impor- 

 tance — chance and skill. In the latter word we include both 

 manual and mental skill. For example, in cup and ball we have 

 an instance of a game requiring nothing but manual skill ; while 

 in jackstraws, it is a combination of chance with manual skill 

 that determines the result. Again, in checkers we have a game 

 of pure intellectural skill , but in backgammon intellectual skill 

 is combined with chance. Skillful physicians prescribe for a 

 patient that kind and degree of exercise which is suited to his 

 case — to one a rocking-chair on the south piazza; to another a 

 good round trot out of town on the saddle. Thus, in the evening 

 games, which shall rest the tired worker, or divert the invalid, 

 there is a great opportunity for wise choice in selecting those 

 which are best suited for the purpose in view. Men of intellectual 

 habits, who need rest for the brain and diversion for the sake of 

 rest, find the greatest benefit in those games which demand con- 

 stant attention, but comparatively little mental exertion. The 

 late Charles Robert Darwin astonished the scientific world by the 

 immense amount of labor which he successfully accomplished. 

 One secret of his immense power of endurance unquestionably lay 

 in his devotion to backgammon, in which he so frequently passed 

 his evenings. This game has the admirable qualities, first, of 

 demanding imperiously your attention at every throw of the dice ; 

 and, secondly, of giving you a comparatively easy question in the 

 use you are to make of the throw. There was even an advantage 

 in the old fashion of invariably calling out each throw in mongrel 

 French before playing ; it still more fully occupied the mind with 

 "easy nothings." The preponderance of chance over skill in 

 backgammon is a fourth recommendation of this game for a tired 

 brain. It produces a constant but slight expectation or watching 

 to see what will turn up. In the Russian game, however, it has 

 appeared to us that the preponderance of chance was too great ; 

 it does not leave enough demand for skill. This, also, is the 

 objection to dominoes. 



In rude antithesis to backgammon and dominoes stands chess. 

 This game can not be said to be popular, in the strict sense of the 

 word, and the reason is evident — it is too severely intellectual. 

 It is a very famous game ; so also are Newton's " Principia " and 

 Butler's " Analogy " very famous books. But neither of the three 

 are likely to be found on the sitting-room table as an amuse- 

 ment for either old or young when needing recreation. Moritz 

 Retzsch's marvelous picture of the young man playing chess for 



