532 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the stake of his own soul has been far more popular than the 

 game itself. 



The stake of one's own soul is not often, if ever, consciously 

 made; but one of the abuses to which we have alluded is the 

 habit of staking money or things of money value upon the issue 

 of a game. To say nothing of the moral character of gambling, 

 the stake of even sixpence is just so much detracted from the real 

 interest and value of the game itself. Wagers of every kind, for 

 even the most trifling amounts, are to be avoided ; they are essen- 

 tially bad. But when they take the guise of forfeits or prizes in 

 games, they are doubly mischievous, injuring the utility of the 

 diversion, as well as fostering, to some trifling extent at least, 

 that gambling spirit which is one of the great destructive agencies 

 to the human race. 



Another ground on which games may be classified is the man- 

 ner and amount to which the social element enters into them. 

 Here, again, cards have an advantage, which greatly increases 

 their favor with the people. • The social element enters into cards 

 in a great variety of ways. There are games admitting several 

 persons, but requiring all to keep whist ; there are games admit- 

 ting several persons, and allowing free conversation. There are 

 games for two persons, and there are various solitaires. An in- 

 valid's hours are often necessarily spent in solitude ; and he tires 

 of reading, of whittling, of crocheting, or knitting ; and yet 

 tires of idleness. Then a solitaire is valuable ; and he may 

 choose, from the solitaires at cards, a kind which shall suit his 

 taste and his needs ; since the different solitaires in cards vary 

 greatly, in the amount of thought and of skill required to play 

 them. 



The severely intellectual game of chess offers also a numerous 

 set of solitaires. Every chess-column in a newspaper furnishes 

 problems of greater or less difficulty. A diagram gives the posi- 

 tion of a few pieces toward the close of a supposed game ; and the 

 party to be victor is required to checkmate, in a specified number 

 of moves. Setting your men according to the diagram, you play 

 for both parties ; endeavoring to prevent the game from ending so 

 soon, and yet endeavoring, with equal fidelity, to bring it to a close 

 as required. 



The new game of halma, which has acquired so sudden a popu- 

 larity in some parts of the country, furnishes, like chess, an un- 

 limited variety of problems ; either one of which may be consid- 

 ered, like any enigma or puzzle, a solitaire. The most general 

 statement of a problem in halma would be, to move a given 

 number of men from one given position to another, in a given 

 number of moves. One problem proposed by ourselves has proved 

 so wonderfully rich in the number of possible solutions, that we 



