72 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Dec. 1, 1885. 



AVliite played the ingenious move of 73. Kt to B5, and the game 

 was drawn, as I cannot save the P. I am, however, not quite satis- 

 fied wliether the game is really a draw, although I believe so. Black, 

 however, could continue with"either B to Esq., or K to K6, or B to 

 Ko. These lines of play lead to some interesting variations, which 

 I must leave you to examine for yourself, 



ON DISCARDING, 

 Bv Mogul. 



^^3|HE essential principle of discarding, viz. — to dis- 

 card the card least likel.v to be of use.— is so pal- 

 pable that I can only wonder that in these latter 

 days an attempt should ha\e been made to ignore 

 it altogether and propose therefore to consider 

 the play which necessarily follows from an ad- 

 herence to this principle and to comment on that 

 which has been suggested in total disregard of it. 

 It requires but little experience to know that 

 cards which maybe of use if we hold the long trumps or even a 

 certain card of re-entry, may be of no use at all under other circum- 

 stances, wliilst other cards may be of little value if we hold winning 

 trumps, but of great value if we are weak ; hence arose the general 

 rule given in Mathews (whose treatise still is, after Clay's, the most 

 improving book on Whist for the advanced player) as follows : " If 

 weik in trumps, keep guard on your adversaries' suits; if strong, 

 throw awa\' from them, and discard as much as possible from your 

 partner's strong suit in either case.'' Now this is a good general 

 rule, but, like other general rules, is too short to embrace 

 all cases, and, in fact, there are so many contingencies 

 affecting the discard that I doubt whether any sufficiently 

 general reliable rule can be framed, and my advice to 

 players is to keep the principle above stated ever before them 

 and apply it in each case to the best of their judgment. If the 

 strength of trumps is clearly on a player's side and he has a good 

 strong suit, lie will, of course, discard from his weak suit ; but if the 

 strength of trumps is clearly against him and his main object is to 

 save the game, he will, equally of cour.se, protect his weak suits, 

 such as King or Queen and one or two others, and Knave, or 

 even Ten, with three others, by discarding from his other suit, 

 however strong or weak it may be. The cliief difficulties in dis- 

 carding arise when the strength of trumps on either side is not 

 pronounced or when successive discards have to be made, and either 

 weak suits must be unguarded or winning cards thrown away. In 

 all these cases every player must rely on liis own judgment. 

 Having regard to the score, &c., sometimes a winning card must be 

 retained to prevent the ad\'ersaries making others in the suit. 

 Kometimes it must be discarded in order to keep guards on other 

 cards ; sometimes a losing card must be retained to lead to your 

 partner holding the best and others or to put the lead in the hand 

 of an adversary (this only in emergencies), and so on ; in fact, the 

 reasons 7;rr) and con for certain discards are often so well balanced 

 as to make the proper discard in such cases as puzzling a matter as 

 any in Whist. 



AVith these views I regard Cavendish's dictum in his treatise, 

 " Wlien trumps are declared against you, your partner will give you 

 credit for strength in the suit from which you originally threw 

 away," as terribly misleading, and so does every fine player whom 

 I have yet consulted. It assumes, in the first place, that you have a 

 strong suit from which to discard, a most dangerous assumption to 

 make when the game is in danger, and one verj' likely to destroy 

 the only chance of saving the game, for because on the assumption 

 that .you are strong in the suit your partner would be justified in 

 leading King or Queen, holding with it one or two small ones; 

 and, if you are not strung, will sacrifice his honour uselessly ; or, 

 should he be induced by your discard to open a suit in which he 

 holds nothing, the chances against your holding two honours are so 

 considerable that, in all probability, the lead will suit the adver- 

 saries more than yourself. The dictum further assumes that you 

 invariably want to be led to in the suit discarded from, but this 

 very frequently will not be the case ; e.r/., one of the safest and best 

 discards when you want to save the game is from an Ace and 

 two or three small ones, and yet you would much object 

 to having the Ace taken out of your hand unless your 

 partner has strength in the suit Take a case. When you hold 

 Knave, Ten, and two others of one suit, and Ace and two small ones 

 of another, the strength in trumps being with the adversaries and the 

 game in danger, the proper discard is from the Ace suit ; but the 

 most advantageous lead for j-our partner to make, so far as your own 



hand is concerned," is the other suit ; or, perhaps, holding Queen 

 and two small ones in one suit, Knave and three small ones in 

 another and two small cards in a third suit not yet opened, the 

 proper discard is from the last. And yet it would be verj- awkward 

 if your partner should jump to the conclusion that you wanted him 

 to lead the suit. But Cavendish, with that love for rigid rules 

 and uniform play which seems more and more to pervert his 

 judgment, has lately pushed his views still further, and in his 

 criticism on Proctor's treatise, " How to Play Whist 1 " has gone 

 so far as to state, "that the discard from strong suits is as 

 much a ' signal ' as the call for trumps." His meaning here is 

 certainly not very clear, for how, unless the Ace be discarded, 

 his partner is to tell that it is a discard from a strong suit 

 he does not explain ; but, having regard to his above-quoted dictum, 

 1 suppose he means, and can only mean, a discard when the 

 strength of trumps is adverse, and that such a discard is a command 

 to his partner to lead that suit, and yet how foolish such a signal 

 would be ! For only consider that a discard is abcnijs forced play. 

 We cannot refuse to make one merely because we have no strong 

 suit. No one is ever obliged to make any other signal, but a player 

 is compelled to discard, whatever his cards may be, and thus, 

 according to Cavendish, to command his partner to lead 

 the suit discarded from ; but when one considers the innu- 

 merable hands that may be held in which we would prefer 

 our partner not to lead the suit discarded from, and yet dare not 

 discard from the suit we would like him to lead, as doing so would 

 uncover the only card we could hope to make in it, does not (I'avendish's 

 theory appear thoroughly suicidal .' It certainly does so to me, and 

 all the more so when I reflect that wlicn the adversaries have 

 the strength in trumps they, and not your partner, will generally 

 have the lead after your discard and will certainly avoid leading 

 either of the suits which, if the discard be a signal, you or your 

 partner have shown by your discards that you want led. Cavendish's 

 signal would therefore guide your adversaries into the winning 

 path and be worse than suicidal, inasmuch as your partner would 

 suffer with yourself. 



It would seem to me, and in this view I am supported by all the 

 fine players with whom I have discussed the point, that you cannot 

 regard a partner's discaid, when trumps are adversc,as expressing any 

 wish, much less any command, that you should lead that suit, and 

 that you are bound, in the absence of any other indication than the 

 discard of a small card (for if Ace be discarded it is quite another 

 thing), to lead the suit which suits your own hand best — ('..<7., to lead 

 from a suit of four with two honours or any stronger suit, or even 

 from a suit headed with Knave nr Ten, rather than open a suit in 

 which you hold absolutely nothing; but, if you have no suit you can 

 open without palpable disadvantage, you had better, in such an 

 emergency, lead the suit from which your partner has discarded, 

 not because he has told you he is strong in it or has shown he wants 

 it led; but becau.se, as a general rule, the suit, from which he can 

 discard with the least risk, will be his strongest suit. In such a case, 

 I would lead Knave, and probably Queen, holding with either, two 

 small ones : but I most assuredly should not so far rely on my partner 

 holding strength in the suit as to lead King from King and two small 

 ones ; or, indeed, with King and one other to open the suit at all. 



Contents of No. 1. 



PAGE 



The I'nknowatjle ; or, the Religion 



of Science. By R. A. Proctor ... 1 

 The Dispersion of Seeds. Bv Grant 



Allen ". 3 



Coal. I. By W. Mattieu Williams 5 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer on Church 



and State 7 



Movements of the Planets. (Illus.) 



By R. A. Proctor 8 



The" Skies of the Southern Hemi- 



sphere. (///«».) By R.A.Proctor 13 

 The Story of Creation : Intro. 



ductory. By Eflward Clodd 13 



Optical Recreations : Colour and 



Light, (///«».) ByF.R.A.S. .. IB 

 OurGalaiT: Letter io Sir J. Her- 



schel. (J«ii«.) By R. A. Proctor 17 



PiGK 



The Universe. Bv Sir John 



Herschel ' 20 



Luxotvpe and the Editor's Portrait. 



("/««.) 



Indian Myths. By " Stella 



Occidens " '22 



Electricity at Home. (Illus.) Bv 



W. Slingo ai 



The Oriein of Language. Bv Ada 



S. Ballin ." 26 



The Book of Genesis. By E. A. 



Proctor 29 



Mispronunciation 31 



Chess. By"Mephisto" ". 32 



Whist : A Protest against Signals. 



By "Mogul" 33 



Recent Inventious 3t 



21 



NOTICES. 



KxoWLEDGE OciOBliR XcMBERS (20",, 206, and 207) have not been included ,i 

 anv monthly part, but form part of A"ol. Till., the last number contaming tl.o 

 index to the Volume. These three numbers can be obtained either through a'; 

 agent or dire<t from the Publisher, pri<e 3d each, post-free. 



TEEMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. ' ,. a. 



To any address in the Cnited Kingdom, the Continent, United 



States of America, and Canada 7 6 



The cost of postape of a single oopv to any address in Great Britain is three 

 halfpence. The same amount also is sufficient for the Coitinent, the L mtel 

 States, and iiearlv all eonntiies in the Postal Union. 



All subscriptions are payable iu advance, - - 



