November 1, 1886.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



19 



of failure, and 1 for the extras, 

 sen ted by 



It is therefore repi*- 



10 ■ 





. 1 . 

 •Til ' 



lo ^ 





1 U.O U.U O 0,0 o o 



or the chance is less than 1 in 2,500,000 that the double- 

 figure result will come off. 



Of course in special cases the chance would be much 

 higher than this, as when a strong eleven with no t;iil is 

 opposed to a weak one. It would be a very exceptional 

 eleven, however, for which the above chance would be altei-ed 

 into, sjiy — 



■Tff ■ 



■ TTj ^ "ni - 



■ if ^ M ^ 



r + ^ 



in other words, the odds against making all double figures 

 would be close on 200 to 1 even in the case of an eleven so 

 strong (as against the opposed eleven) that three of the 

 number would reach doable figures eight times out of nine, 

 that two would reach them three times out of five, three in 

 half the number of games played, and the three others 

 three times out of eight. 



The odds against a " Yarborough " are more than 

 1,827 to 1, though I do not saj- that would "justify" 

 laying even 1 ,000 to 1 against an event which may occur 

 at the first trial. I have known two Yarboroughs (i.e. 

 whist hands without a card above a nine) in one evening's 

 l)lay. 



* * * 



The victory of Beach over Hanlan on the Paramatta, 

 and over all.' competitors on the Thames, gives pl&asure to 

 thosi wliD have been long troubled by the crafty ways of 

 ceitain professional oai-smen. The river has lieen infested 

 by sporting rascality as thoroughly as the turf ; and those 

 who have tiiken interest in i-owing and sculling races 

 beeiuse of their i-egard for a manly exercise, and without 

 any of those gambling tendencies which degrade sporting 

 men, have been little aware how often the pulling is 

 arranged before a stroke has been taken. Beach has, and 

 doubtless deserves, the i-e|jutation of thorough straightness. 

 If or when he is beaten — long may it be before he is — 

 we shall know that he has been beaten by a better oaraman. 



i * * * 



For my own part, I feel further pleasure in Beach's suc- 

 cess because all accounts agree in describing his stroke as 

 precisely that which I have advocated on theoretical grounds 

 as the stroke which must certainly be most effective for the 

 modern racing craft — a strong grip at the beginning, and 

 the best part of the work done in the first half of the 

 stroke. Although very absurd ideas were mistakenly 

 advanced about Hanlan's stroke, as involving a jerk at the 

 end — ideas which, being accepted by other oarsmen in 

 America, have gone far to ruin their style (which probably 

 was intended) — there can te no doubt that Hanlan did more 

 work projx)rtionately in the latter half of his stroke than 

 the mechanical theory- of propulsion would justify in light- 

 racing craft, or than any man not so exceptionally built as 

 Hanlan could have ventured on. Whenever Hanlan was 

 fairly extended, however (how seldom that happened we all 

 know), his style was nearly perfect. Beach rows in a style 

 as nearly perfect as seems possible ; and his method is that 

 which, since the days when the modern racing-boat was 

 introduced, all the best oarsmen have followed. 



* * * 



I QUOTE the following account of Beach's rowing from 

 the lif/ei-ee ; because, although the remarks on rowing in that 

 paper have always read to oarsmen as if penned by theatrical 

 " supes," or at best by sprinters as the nearest approach to 

 athletes possible with their staff, yet as the Beferee was for- 

 merlj' obliging enough to comment unfavourably on my own 

 views in regard to rowing (who have, I suspect, rowed 

 more miles than any of their staQ' have written lines) it is 

 pl&ising to be able to quote from that paper what amounts, 

 practiailly, to a recantation, as the following parallel columns 

 will show ; — 



From " Notes on Rowing" in the 

 Editor's " Strength anti Hap- 

 piness," pp. 161 and 162 : — 



I assert confidently, as a result 

 of theory and practice, of ob- 

 servation and of experiment, 

 that for the arms not to be at 

 work in connexion with the body 

 and legs in the earlier part of 

 the stroke is as great a fault in 

 rowing as for them to be at work 

 alone in any part of the stroke. 

 . . . [The rower in the modern 

 light craft should] give up the 

 cherislied drag and lightning 

 feather, let the arms be sturdily 

 called into action, in due sub- 

 ordination of course to the body, 

 and in due alliance with the legs 

 from the very beginning of the 

 stroke, .so that when the body 

 comes upright the arms have 

 nearlj- done their work. Let 

 not the stroke be hurried, but 

 a steady (not sluggish) recovery 

 precede the grip at the begin- 

 ning. 



From the licferec for Septem- 

 ber 5, p. 1, col. 4 : — 



Like Renforth, Beach is very- 

 quick in catching hold of the 

 water, and, as did the Novo- 

 castrian, lays on directly he has 

 hold. He pulls hard on his 

 stroke throughout, but does most 

 of his work, as oldsters used, in 

 the first half, and not in the 

 second, as the new school do. 

 This development upsets all done 

 in the last few years. The 

 American school went farther 

 than Hanlan, whose vicious 

 wrench at the end of each stroke 

 was one of its chief features. 

 Beach has dropped into the old 

 style, with most of the work done 

 with the sculls at right angles 

 to the boat's line, but a start 

 made in earnest directly they 

 are dropped in. This does not 

 necessitate scamping the re- 

 mainder, but as carried out is 

 the way that the heroes of the 

 previous generation performed. 



* * * 



Besides the method of arranging 19 trees in 9 rows, 

 5 in each, de.scribed under the head " Our Puzzles," I have 

 received yet another, fulfilling, oddly enough, the condition 

 I mention as only fulfilled by original solution. 1 will give 

 this nest month, with the solution of the more difficult 

 problem to ari'ange 19 trees in ten rows 5 in each. 



* * * 



Some readers appear quite to have mistaken several 

 references to my esteemed friend and contributor Mr. Grant 

 Allen in our last. Surely it ought not to need explanation that 

 if I mention him as doing (with marvellous skill and aptitude) 

 what the Saturday Review is constantly attacking me for 

 doing, no reproiich can conceivably be intended. The 

 remark as to incorrectness in West Indian speech brings 

 Mr. Allen into the same relation with Thackeray and 

 Anthony Trollope, to imagine which to te a slur were 

 assuredly absurd. 



^AtbifiBSf. 



Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs. Bv the Countess 

 EvELVN Martisengo-Cesaresco. (Geo. Redway.) — The 

 essays which compose this delightful book well deserve 

 collection in permanent form, and the publisher has done 

 his share in making that form attractive. Their subjects 

 carry us back to the morning of the world, when the inspira- 

 tion of the singer came through direct contitct with nature, 

 and we are among the company of those whose verse, spon- 

 taneous and sincere, is to the poetry of later days as the 

 wildflowers of valleys and meadows to the cultivated beds 

 of parks and hothouses. Their themes are not of Lntriguea 



