48 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[December 1, 1886. 



WHIST. 

 By "Five of Clubs." 



fpiIE following game is from tlie Westminster Paptrs, and was 

 -L recently selected as a good iUustrative hand for the wliist 

 column of the Australasian : — 



THE HANDS. 



„ rS. (triimj)x).~A. 2, 4, 9. 

 \H.— A, 4, G. 



C— Kn, 5, 10. 

 D.— 5, 6, 



5, 10.\ 

 .8- / 



. /S. {trumps). — En, .' 

 ^ I H— 5, 8, 9. 

 A B play against I'and Z. 



•p 4- 4- 

 4. 4- 4- 



^P 



o o 



0^0 

 



O B*'^ J [a a] ^X a 



7 <?, 



13 



—11— 



C— 4. 6. "1 



D.-K, Kn, 2, 3, 4, 7 / 

 Woore -.—A B three; I' Z love. 



NOTES OX THE PLAT. 



Card underlined wins trick ; card 

 underneath leading next. 



1. The usual lead cow is 

 the fourlh best — the so-called 

 American lead. As the cards lie, 

 3" .? would have lost nothing had 

 X passed his partner's trick. But 

 he had to play a forward game, 

 the chances being that A B were 

 two by honours. 



2. The spade six would now be 

 commonly played. 



3. Better return his partner's 

 suit. 



4. 3' can now place Spade four 

 and anotlier Spade in .B's hand, 

 whose lead at trick 3 spoke plainly 

 of four trumps. Therefore, 



7, 8, 9, after making two of his 

 •winning Clubs, Y goes on with 

 them, leading through B's pro- 

 bable minor Tenace. B of course 

 lets the Club pass through a 

 winning card. Z must either take 

 this Club or the Three. If he 

 passes both, he will have to take 

 the 11th trick, and B will make 

 his Spade nine. 



12, 13. y,?'wins the game. 



MATHEWS ON WHIST. 

 Our column of Whist strategy 

 from Mathews is crowded out this 

 month. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR DECEMBER. 



By F.R.A.S. 



EVER more than 15^ high even at noon, and 

 ^lirouded in the mists of winter, the sun now 

 is soen with difficulty, even when visible at all. 

 On tlie 21st (the shortest day) he is only above 

 the horizon of London for 7h. 44m. The night 

 sky is portrayed in mapxii. of "The Stars in tlieir 

 Seasons." Minima of Algol (same map) may be 

 observed at llh. lom. P.M. on the 6ih ; 8h. ."im. p.m. 

 on the 9th; 4h. 54m. P.M. on the 12th; 12h.58m. P.M. 

 on tlie 2(;tli, and 9h. 47m. p M. on the 29th. Mercury is a morning 

 star, and travels to his greatest distance west of the sun (21° 52') 

 on the 22ud ; but he is so badly placed that we may regard him as 

 invisible. Venus, also a morning star, is worse placed still. She 

 comes into superior conjunction with the sun (or is behind him) 

 during the early morning of the 3rd. Mars will be invisible for the 

 observer's purpose during the remainder of the year, a remark which 

 applies equally to Jupiter. Saturn rises between 6 and 7 o'clock 

 in the evening at the beginning of December, and about 20 

 minutes to 5 on the 31st, so that he is visible during a very large 

 part of the amateur's working night. The slight closing up of his 

 rings will be noted. It is travelling towards 5 Geminorum (•' The 

 Stars in their Seasons," map ii.). Uranus is invisible ; but Neptune 

 may still be seen in the barren region in Taurus to the south and 

 (just to the west) of the Pleiades. The moon enters her first quarter 

 at 2h. 2om. P.M. on the ord ; is full at 9h. 30-2m. A.M. on the 11th ; 

 enters her last quarter at (ih. 39 1 A.M. on the ISth ; and is new at 

 9h. 54 7m. A.M. on the 25th. Several stars will be occulted by the 

 moon during December, but four onlj' of such occultations will 

 happen at convenient hours for the student. On the 3rd //' Aquarii, 

 a star of the 5Uh magnitude, will disappear at the dark limb 

 of the moon at 5h. Sm. P.M., at an angle from her vertex of 116°. It 

 will reappear at her bright limb at Ch. 30m. P.M., at an angle of 28fi° 

 from her vertex. On the 10th, B..\.C. 1526, of the 6th magnitude, 

 will disappear at the dark limb at lOh. 29m. p.m , at a vertical 

 angle of 78° ; to re.appear at the bright limb at 1 Ih. 44m. P..M., at an 

 angle of 292° from the moon's vertex. On the 14th, 54 Cancri, 

 of the 6j'h magnitude, will disappear at the bright limb at 

 9h. 26m. P.M., at an angle from the vertex of the moon of 85°. It 

 will reappear at lOh. 9m. P.M., at the dark limb at an angle of 181° 

 from the vertex. Lastly, on the 28th, 29 Capricorni. a 6th magni- 

 tude star, will disappear at the dark limb at 6h. 31m. P.M., at an 

 angle of 159° from the lunar vertex ; but the moon will have set 

 ere it reappears at her opposite limb. At noon, on December 1, the 

 moon is on the confines of Capricornus and Aquarius (" The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate sxi.), and is subsequently travelling through 

 Aquarius until 7h. 30m. A.M. on the 4th, when she enters Pisces 

 (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxii.). In her journey through 

 Pisces, she arrives at 1 p.m. on the 7th at the northern corner of 

 Cetus ; by 3 o'clock the next morning she has traversed this and 

 entered Aries. She is in Aries until G A.M. on the 9th, when she 

 quits it for Taurus (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxiii.). As she 

 passes across Taurus she reaches, at 9h. 30m. P.M. on the 11th, the 

 boimdary of the northern outlier of t)rion. This she crosses in 

 11 hours, and at 8h. 30m. A.M. on the 12th emerges in Gemini ("The 

 Seasons Pictured,'' plate xxiv.). She remains in Gemini until 1 A..M. 

 on the 14th, when she quits it for Cancer; leaving Cancer in turn 

 for Leo at noon on the 15th. She occupies until midnight on the 

 17th in passing over Leo, and, at the hour just named, crosses the 

 boundary into Virgo ("The Seasons Pictured," pla'e xxv.). It is 

 1 A.M. on the 21st ere her journey through Virgo is accomplished 

 and she has passed into Libra (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxvi.). 

 Here she remains until 9 p.m. on the 22nd, when she reaches the 

 narrow northern spike of Scorpio. By 6 o'clock the next morning 

 she has passed through this and entered Ophiuchus. At midnight 

 on the 24th she leaves Ophiuchus for Sagittarius ; as she does Sagit- 

 tarius for Capricornus at lOh. 30m. A.M. on the 27th (" The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate xxi.). At Gh. 30m. P.M. on the 28th she quits 

 Capricornus for Aquarius. She continues in Aquarius until 4 P.M. 

 on the 31st, when she enters Pisces, where she of course remains 

 when these notes terminate. 



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