680 



POLO. 



germs. Bocklisch made several analyses of 

 the cadaverine which he obtained in the first 

 series of experiments from the action of pure 

 cultivations of the Vibrio proteus, and showed 

 that its hydrochloride forms a crystalline com- 

 pound with mercuric chloride ; and as this dif- 

 fered somewhat from the composition formerly 

 assigned to the artificial preparation by Laden- 

 burg the subject was involved in some doubt. 

 But Ladenburg has made fresh and purer prep- 

 arations of his penta-methylene-diamine, and 

 finds that its compound with mercuric chloride 

 lias precisely the composition assigned to the 

 double chloride of mercury and cadaverine by 

 Bocklisch. Hence cadaverine is conclusively 

 proved to be none other than penta-methylene- 

 diamine, and consequently must be added to the 

 list of products of animal life which have been 

 synthesized. The formation of these alkaloids, 

 during disease or after death, has a most im- 

 portant bearing upon the treatment of cases of 

 suspected poisoning, inasmuch as, whether 

 poisonous or not, their reactions differ very 

 little from those of the deadly alkaloids ; and 

 in the interest of justice it is to be hoped that 

 our knowledge respecting them may soon be 

 rendered as complete as possible. 



The experiments of M. Dumoulin upon the 

 poisonous properties of the salts of copper in- 

 dicate that these qualities have been exagger- 

 ated. Doses of from 62 to 93 grains of the 

 sulphate were administered to rabbits and dogs 

 without serious results. The subacetate (ver- 

 digris) caused vomiting at first, but the ani- 

 mals soon became used to it. The carbonate, 

 oxide, and oleopalmitate also gave negative 

 results. One animal was cured of impetigo by 

 the administration of the copper salt, and the 

 remedy was afterward successfully applied to 

 children for scrofulous and skin diseases. 



POLO. Since the introduction of the English 

 equestrian game of polo in the United States, 

 a new game has been evolved from it, entitled 

 "polo," which is played exclusively in the 

 roller-skating rinks of the country. Like la- 

 crosse this skating game of polo is very similar 

 to the English sports of " hockey " and 

 u shinny," that is, they are all based upon the 

 same plan of making the capture of " goals " 

 the object in view of the contesting sides of the 

 game. Unlike the old British sports of golf, 

 hockey, shinny, and foot-ball, the new rink 

 game of polo has an American authorship at- 

 tached to it, which greatly adds to its chances 

 for popularity. Holler-skating is a distinctively 

 American sport, and rink polo belongs to roller- 

 skating. In taking the title of " polo " from 

 the English equestrian game of that name, it 

 may be said that that is the only English part 

 of the game which has been naturalized, as it 

 were. Polo proper can never become a popu- 

 lar sport in this country, as it is far too expen- 

 sive to be indulged in except by the wealthy, 

 and only by those of that class who excel as 

 equestrians. On the other hand, what we may 

 rightly call the American game of polo bids 



fair to out-rank all the older sports of its kind 

 in American public favor, judging from its 

 rapid growth within the past three years. The 

 origin of this American skating game illustrates 

 a national characteristic of our people, and that 

 is their peculiar penchant for adapting all sports 

 and pastimes to the demands of the period ; 

 and for Americanizing games that, in their 

 original form, do not suit our progressive ideas. 

 The English equestrian game of polo was intro- 

 duced to the fashionable summer residents of 

 Newport, K. I., about the same time that a 

 furore for roller-skating set in, and when the 

 English game became somewhat familiar to the 

 Newport public, the idea occurred to a few of 

 the skaters of the town that it would be a good 

 game to play, in a modified form, on roller- 

 skates. The experiment was tried, and it 

 proved so successful that within a year the 

 new game was played at all the skating-rinks 

 in the Eastern States, but especially so at the 

 rinks of Boston and Providence. During the 

 decade following the introduction of polo on 

 skates in Newport in 1874, the new game, 

 greatly improved in its details and rules, be~ 

 came the established skating-rink sport, and 

 not long afterwards it began to flourish to a 

 still greater extent under the auspices of a 

 league of polo clubs, the first authorized code 

 of playing rules emanating from the New Eng- 

 land League. Of course, the game, in its origi- 

 nal form, as played at Newport, was governed 

 by rules somewhat crude and incomplete ; but 

 the materials then used in the game compris- 

 ing a comparatively light ball and light sticks 

 were far better adapted for the development 

 of skillful strategy in playing the game than 

 were the large heavy ball and heavy sticks that 

 subsequently came into use, which until re- 

 cently formed a serious barrier to the progress 

 of the new game in popularity, the polo of 

 1883 and 1884 proving to be a decidedly rough 

 and dangerous sport, not to mention its great 

 tendency to promote disputes among the clubs. 

 But these difficulties were partially removed 

 through the medium of the more perfect code 

 of rules adopted by the Massachusetts League 

 in 1885, which tended to rid the game of most 

 of its objectionable features. 



How the Game is Played. The game of polo is 

 played by twelve men, six on each side, though 

 it can be played by ten on a side. One player 

 of the six on a side guards the goal, while two 

 others "point" and "cover point" assist 

 him, and the other three form the attacking 

 force as " rushers." The referee governs the 

 contest, he calling " play " and " time " when 

 the game is begun or suspended, and also decid- 

 ing what constitutes foul play. The ball is 

 placed in the center, and at the referee's call 

 the contesting sides strive to get possession of 

 it and force it into their opponents' goal, in 

 which case they win a game, and so many won 

 games constitute a match, such as best two out of 

 three goals, or best three out of five. The goal 

 is in the form of a net cage, which retains pos- 



