July 1, 1886.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



295 



may still possibly be caught somewhat to the south of ■t 

 Virginis (" The Seasons Picturerl," plate xxv.). The moon is new 

 at lOh. 66m. on the night of the 1st, and enters her first quarter at 

 111. !8 2m. r.M. on tlie 8th. She is full at 3ta. S;(m. A..M. on the 

 16th, enters her last quarter at 7h. ^rira. in the morning of the 

 21th, and will be new for the second time in July at 5h. 2.)'8m. 

 A.M. on the :ilst. The major part of the occultations of stars by 

 the moon this naonth happen between 3 and 4 a.m., so that we do 

 nut propose to refer to them here. The only two occurring at even 

 moderately convenient hours for the amateur are that of ^ Ceti on 

 the 24th, wliich will be occulted as it is rising at llh. 32m. P.M. at 

 the bright lirab of the moon. It may be seen to reappear at the 

 moon's dark limb afterwards, though, at 12li. 24m. at an angle of 

 267° from her vertex : and that of So Taviri on the 26th, which will 

 be behind the moon when she rises, but, as iu the previous case, 

 may be seen to emerge from bcliind the dark limb of the moon 

 49 minutes after midnight, at a vertical angle of 224°. When these 

 notes begin the moon is on the confines of Orion and Gemini 

 (" The Reasons Pictured," pUie xxiv.). She is travelling through 

 Gemini until about 12h. 30m. on the night of tlie 2nd, when she 

 enters Cancer. Her passage through the last-named constellation 

 occupies her until lOh. 30m. A.M. onthe 4th. At the hour just named 

 she passes into Leo. Here she continues until 9 p.m. on the 6th, when 

 s'lecrossestheboundary into Virgo ("The Seasons Piciured,"pl.x.xv.). 

 She is travelling through Virgo until lOp.M.ontheilth. .itttiat hour she 

 enters Libra (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxvi.), and, passing 

 across it, arrives at 8.30 P.M. on the 11th at the boundary of the 

 narrow norihern strip of Scorpio. By 6 o'clock the next morning 

 she has crossed this and emerged in Ophiuchus. At 3 a.m. on the 

 14th she passes out of Ophiuchus into Sagittarius; which at 3 P.M. 

 on the 16th she leaves in turn for Capricornus ("The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate xxi.). Her path across Capricornus is completed by 

 2 P.M. on the 17th, when she quits it for A<iuariu3. She is travelling 

 through Aquarius until 9 P M. on the 20th, and then she enters 

 Pisces (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxii.). At 2 A.M. on the 24th 

 she leaves Pisces for the little corner of Get us running between 

 Pisces and Aries, and it occupies her until 4 o'clock in the afternoon 

 of the same day to traverse Hiis and pass into Aries ("The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate xxiii.). The journey through Aries is com- 

 pleted by 7 P.M. on the 2;)th, and she then enters Taurus. In her 

 passage through the last-named constellation she arrives, at 10 A.M. 

 on the 28th at the boundary of the narrow northern prolongation of 

 Orion. By 9 p.m. she has crossed this and emerged in Gemini 

 (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxiv.). Her path through Gemini is 

 not completed until 11 A.M on the 30th, at which hour she crosses 

 into Cancer. Finally, at 8 P.M. on the 31st, she leaves Cancer for 

 Leo, which constellation she is traversing when our notes terminate 



d^ur WiWt Columiu 



By " Five of Ci.uiss." 



HE following game was played recently at Munich, 

 I holding hand B. There is nothing remarkable 

 about the play, but it illustrates well the disadvan- 

 tage often arising from signalling. There can be 

 little doubt that had not H, by signalling, shown 

 the almost hopeless position in which A and I 

 .stood, I should not have been driven to adopt, as 

 the only chance of success, the apparently wild 

 course of trumping my partner's best Diamond in 

 Older to get an extra trick by the cross-ruff. I may remark, how- 

 ever, that a little practice at double dummy play will convince the 

 whist learner that devices such as these are often most useful. 



THE HANDS. 



jj rS (triimpx). — 10, 5, 3 

 -"\H.— A, K, 8, 7. 



fS (i*'« »!/«).— 8, 7, 2. 



■rJ IL 



-6, 3, 



■1 D.— A, 11, 3 



Lc. 



9, Kn,Q, A.— S.(!'/As-) 

 ."), 9, 10,Kn.— H 



K, Q, Kn, 9. 



^ LH.— Q, 4. 



SCOEE 



"■1 . 



11 



13 



13 



<;> s? 



<^ <? 



_5_ 





—5= 



NOTES. 



Card underlined wins trick, card 



below being next lead. 



1. Z begins a signal. Seeing 

 that he holds the necessary two 

 by honours in his hand he should 

 have played a more cautious game 

 In any case, however, his hand 

 was not one to signal from, de- 

 sjiite the trump strength. 



2, 3. Z signals in hearts. A 

 has no more of the suit. 



4. B does not force his partner, 

 preferring to try for a cross ruff 

 Leading the Knave, instead of 

 playing it to h s partner's lead 

 (after a ruff), he conceals the 

 chance of a cross-rull, on which 

 he sees that the only hope of 

 success may depend. A single 

 ruff at this stage is likely to be of 

 little use if X has signalled with 

 sufficient reason. 



5. Y responds to the signal 

 with his best trump — another un- 

 fortunate result of Z'a undue for- 

 wardness. 



6. 3 here pursues the strategic 

 policy initiated at trick 4. He 

 sees that if yl's Queen makes, and 

 he himself gets only one ruff, he 

 can give A only one, making with 

 that won by the Queen only three, 

 whereas four are wanted to save 

 the game after trick 5. Now, the 

 chances are very small that a 

 fourth trick can lie made in Clubs 

 or trumjis, for Z certainly holds 

 the Ace of trumps, and presumably 

 all the strength in Clubs lies be- 

 tween J'and.^. But besides this, 

 nothing can be lost by trumping 

 the Diamond Queen, for not one 

 of B's small trumps can make a 

 trick except by ruffing, and not 

 more than two anyhow. 



7. 8, 9. The cross-ruff comes 

 off, P's unfortunate weakness in 

 trumps not permitting him to 

 overtrump ^4's Spade 6. 



10, U, 12, 13. In this order the 

 remaining tricks would doubtless 

 have been played liad the game 

 stood otherwise than at " love 

 all." But of course the cards 

 were thrown up after trick 9. 



By " Mephisto." 



CHESS-PLATERS, DEAD AND LIVING. 



|ELF-INTEREST and every other form of egotism 

 has been, and will always remain, the prime motor 

 of human or animal life, in spite of anything 

 moralists, in disregard of nature's teaching, 

 may assert to the contrary. Thus, when a certain 

 ihess-pl.ayer appeared in England, who successfully 

 competed with the native players, he at once 

 arrayed the self-interest of others against himself. 

 A vague, baseless, and ungenerous kind of national 

 egotism also came into operation against the alien. Up to the 

 time of his arrival all work on the chess press had been considered 

 as the hereditary property of a privileged few, who grouped them- 



