102 



♦ KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



[June 1, 1888. 



king, queen, and a small heart, and a king-card in clubs. ([ had 

 already made my long spades, and we v/ere now playing out the fag 

 end of the hand ; hearts had not yet been led, though three hearts 

 had been played.) I knew perfectly well that the chances were in 

 favour of the correct lead — heart king, and that nothing in the late- 

 ness of the suit affected the propriety of the lead. We bad made 

 the odd trick already, and if my partner held the ace, we should 

 make all four tricks and go out ; but if the enemy held it, we might 

 make three tricks, two, or one out of the remaining four. Leading 

 king ensured two ; and though leading a small card gave a chance 

 of three, the chance of three was not equal to the certain' y of 

 two, which was thrown awa}' by leading the king. As we wanted 

 four tricks to save the game — for the enemy had shown two by 

 honours, and were at the score of three — making three more tricks 

 which would have brought our score to " four," and made the game 

 a " single " to the enemy, was not worth more than making 

 two. Despite all this, which should have been obvious, I played 

 the small heart, for the chance of making three of the remaining 

 tricks. Ace lay on my left, however, and the trick fell to heart ten 

 on my right. Clab was led, and my king-card made. I had then 

 to lead heart king, which fell to tlie ace. and the deuce of clubs 

 being led took the last trick. The enemy scored a " double '' and 

 the rub. 



Of course this was sheer bad play on the part of one who knew 

 the right course. It was due to irattention to the score first, and 

 secondly to misjndgment of the cliances. But the bumble puppist, 

 placed in my position, would play the small heart every time. The 

 only diiTerence would be that he would play the king card in clubs 

 first, thereby making the chances wor^t, for want of a re-entering 

 card to bring in the king and queen, which he had been nursing 

 so carefully. 



" That scientific whist-players are at issue on some minor points 

 (the more serious differences in regard to the signals have no 

 relation to the science of the game, only to its qualities as a 

 recreation) proves only that some of the problems involved in Ihe 

 game are very difficult. Considering that the possible hands are to be 

 numbered by hundreds of thousands, it is not to be wondered at that 

 in some cases there is great difficulty in deciding what is the proper 

 course. Let any one consider, for instance, all that is involved in 

 the jiroblem whether second player holding king and two others 

 should put the king or queen led. Not only are theie all the chances 

 to be considered in regard to the making of tricks in the first t%vo 

 rounds of the suit, but the question whether it is more important 

 to make sure of as much on these rounds as can be made, or to hold 

 the command till the third round, and so prevent leader from 

 making iong cards in the suit. This again depends on a number of 

 considerations — as on the possession of command in other suits, on 

 the probabilities as to partner having such command, &c. &c. 

 For my own part, considering this particular point only, I wonder 

 less that there should be difference of opinion than that any player 

 who knows the game should undertake to lay down a definite rule 

 at all, where the primary chances are so equally balanced that very 

 slight differences in the circumstances may make one course the 

 better or the other. 



MATHEWS ON WHLST. 



The Finesse. ,•' 



In playing for the odd trick few finesses are justifiable. This is a 

 nice part of the game, and experience, with attention, will alone 

 teach it with effect. 



Finessing in general is only meant against one card. There are, 

 however, situations when much deeper finessing is required ; but 

 theory alone can never enable the beginner to learn these. As aa 

 illustration, suppose it is necessary j'ou should make two out of the 

 last three cards in a suit not yet played, and you hold ace, ten, and 

 a small one ; if your partner leads the nine, how should you play .' 

 The proper course is to pass it, even though in so doing you are 

 finessing against three cards, for if your partner has an honour in 

 the suit you make two tricks, and if not you cannot make two 

 tricks by any mode of play whatever. 



As the following, or nearly similar, situations frequently occur, I 

 recommend them to the attentive study of thosj players who, 

 feeling within themselves that they comprehend what may be called 

 the alphabet of whist, desire to procure a gradual insight into the 

 game, all the combinations of which, I cannot too often repeat, 

 proceed from very plain and simple principles. It requires some 

 reflection, however, to recognise the truth of the same maxim, when 

 applied to inferior cards, which appears self-evident in the case of 

 higher cards. Thus there is scarcely a player who, if he has the 

 ace, king, knave of a suit of which his right-hand adversary has 

 turned up the queen, but will lead the kins and wait for the return 

 of the suit to win with his knave. [JIathews says to finesse his 



knave, but there is no finesse.] But with ace, queen, and ten— the 

 knave being turned up on his right hand — the same player will 

 often fail to see that his lead, if he plays a trump, is the queen, and 

 that one and the same principle actuates the play in both cases: 

 and so through the suit. 



Should your left-hand adversary lead the king from ace, king, 

 knave, to have the finesse of the knave, and it comes to your lead, 

 it is evident the finesse will succeed, if you remain with the queen 

 and one more. In this case play the small one through him, as this 

 frequently prevents him from making the finesse, though he 

 originally played for it. 



If left with the last trumps and some winning cards, with one 

 losing one, play the losing card first, as your adversary on the left; 

 may finesse ; and if the second best is in your partner's hand it may 

 make the trick — which cannot be made if you leave the trick to 

 the last. 



Finesses are generally right iu tramps, or in a plain suit if you 

 are strong in trumps ; otherwise you should be cautious in 

 finessing. 



Note. — In our next we shall complete our rearrangement of 

 " Mathews on Whist." There remain at present but a few para- 

 graphs on playing to the score, some c:irisiderations relating to end 

 play (a few examples), and some paragraphs relating to " the call," 

 and other points belonging to long whist. I must confess that in 

 going through Mathews (which has been a rather laborious task, 

 owing to the entire absence of order in his work, and his confused 

 style of writing) I have been strongly impressed with the close 

 correspondence between good whist in his day and good whist in 

 our time. There have been considerable changes in matters con- 

 ventional, but the changes iu regard to strategy have been very 

 slight indeed. Some of the suggested changes seem to me far from 

 being improvements, especially the discard from the best suit in 

 presence of the enemy's trump lead, instead of the old rule to dis- 

 card in that case where you can spare a card best or with least risk — 

 that is, generally, from a well-protected suit (though where you 

 have perfecth' useless cards in a suit, one of those should be thrown 

 away rather than diminish j'our protection, even iu a well-protected 

 suit).* 



Destruction wrought by Insects in America. — The annual 

 loss to productive industries in the Ucited States caused by insects 

 is estimated at 150,000,000 dollars. Here is a fair battle between 

 man and another sort of earth occupiers. They are smaller, but if 

 they can whip us have undoubtedly as good a right to the world 

 as we have. As civilisation advances new insects make their 

 appearance, marching sometimes eastward, but generally westward. 

 Tnere are few, if any, forms of vegetation that have no parasites 

 that devour either foliage or fruit. The loss to the cotton crop is 

 estimated at 15,000,000 dollars a year, while that to the apple crop 

 is not much less, and that to the potato crop at least one-half as 

 much. But the estimate is not a fair one until into Ihe loss is 

 counted the time spent in fighting to secure the proportion that is 

 saved. 



Contents 



PAGE 



The Star Story of the Flood 145 



Hunting Alligator? 148 



Canals or Rivers on Mara ? 149 



Weiihingthe Earth 151 



Electric Lamps for Coal Mines. By 



Wui. Laut Carpenter l.'iS 



Disease Germs - . 154 



Fairies, Elves, and Dwarfs. By SDell i 



Occidens (ilary Proctor) 156 



Nevada's Waltzing Giants 1 5S 



OF No. 31. 



FAOB 



The .Stars of other Times 158 



A New Lottery Swindle 159 



j The Religion of the Ancient Britons 160 



1 Reviews 163 



Our Whist Column. By "Five of 



Clubs" 166 



I Our Chess Column. By " Me- 



I pliisto" 167 



, The Face of the Sky tor May. 



ByF.RA.S 1G9 



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* The idea of the modern conventionalist is, of course, to have a 

 means of showing partner the best suit (in this case) by the dis- 

 card ; it does not at all trouble him that (1) you may be quite as 

 likely to want to show him that you have no suit worth leading to ; 

 ami (2) when the enemy show strength the time is better suited for 

 lying low than for showing your partner what j'ou hold. The lead 

 is more than twice as likely to come from the enemy as from him. 



