445 



industrial value of the compressed material in briquette form as a fuel: large shipments 

 of the raw material to England have been worked up into paper, and the results estab- 

 lish an all round utility as a papermaking material. It remains to establish the impor- 

 tant question of steady supply in convenient form for economical freights, and minimum 

 rates of sale in European markets. (C. F. CROSS.) 





SECTION VIII 



_ 



SPORT AND GAMES 



Internationalism. In explaining the aspirations of his country towards sea-power, 

 the new German Ambassador to England, Prince Lichnovsky, remarked at the end of 

 1912 that Germany had already adopted British manners, dress and sports. The assimi- 

 lation of these and other features of social life throughout the portion of the world 

 that affects the European form of civilisation is, of course, mainly the consequence 

 of extended international intercourse and the growth of towns and commerce. It is 

 a commonplace observation that nowadays the inhabitants of great cities in Europe 

 and the countries colonised by Europeans are superficially very much alike; and 

 it could easily be shown that their uniformity is no longer confined to appearances. 

 But in the matter of sports and games, which reflect, besides modifying, character, other 

 influences than the mere imitation of fashion have to be recognised. 



In Great Britain it may be asserted that the passion for outdoor recreation is es- 

 sentially hedonistic. While publicists, preachers and philosophers have for many 

 years kept up a fierce controversy, the natural practice has been little, if at all, influ- 

 enced by the questions whether games in moderation or excess waste the time and per- 

 vert the energies of school-boys or squires; whether physical culture is better advanced 

 on the cricket ground or in the gymnasium; whether University oarsmen for the most 

 part die prematurely of cardiac hypertrophy; whether the prevalence of football ab- 

 sorbs enthusiasm which ought to be given to national defence. There are, of course, 

 thoughtful, unprejudiced and experienced educationalists who advocate athletic 

 games as a necessary part of juvenile training, and are able to command practical as- 

 sent to their views; while there are many thousands of sportsmen and players of games 

 who are convinced by their experience of the immense utility of their favourite di- 

 versions. But on the whole it must be confessed that the general adoption during 

 the last half-century of rural amusements by the British urban population has been 

 caused, not by a conscious desire for culture, but simply by a desire for enjoyment; 

 while the main retarding force has been a fast-decaying puritanism. The thing is 

 first done and afterwards defended. At this point both the practice and the defence 

 are seriously reinforced by the imitation of foreign nations. And it would seem that 

 in their case the movement is to a considerable extent deliberately undertaken from 

 a conviction that their own educational methods can be advantageously supplemented 

 by a selection from the recreative customs of their neighbours. While increasing 

 recognition is paid to the value of physical culture and curative exercise, it is now also 

 understood that in sports of most kinds the senses are sharpened, and a mental as well 

 as bodily kind of alertness and dexterity fostered. Further, the element of competition, 

 together with that conflict with the luck of a contest, which to the Anglo-Saxon 

 race has so much to do with the pleasure of games, is admitted to be in a high degree 

 formative of character. In short, games and sports are in times of peace more or less 

 useful substitutes for the normal military struggle for existence by which the nations 

 have reached their present development. 



Whether as an effect, as a cause, or as a concomitant of this new attitude on the 

 part of the nations, the modern Olympic Games must be taken into account. They 

 have certainly accelerated the growth of internationalism in sport. The celebration 

 of the games in London in 1908 was practically the first revelation to some European 

 peoples of a national opportunity. They found that they possessed champions worthy 

 to stand up in an international arena; and thus was originated a new competitive 



