96 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[February 1, 1887. 



<iBnv ^m0t Column. 



By "Five of Clubs." 



THE AiigtralaHan, whose Whist column is the best now pub- 

 _ lished, gives the following game as an illustration of the 

 indirect mischief often following from tlie play of King second 

 hand, from King and one other : — 



C— K, 8, 4. -1 

 D.— Kn, 10, 9. J 



r. (C;«).-Q, 7, ,-,.-1 

 . — A, Kn, 7. I , 



H. itin\ 

 S 



-A, Q, 10, 7, 5. 

 D.-K, 3. 







 0% 



C— 9, 2. -1 



D.-A, Q, 7. f 

 -^^two; r^ three. 



NOTES ON THE PLAY. 



Card underlined wins trick; card 



underneath leading next. 



1. A is right in leading trumps. 

 But 



2. Z is right also 'in playing 

 them back on A-B. For he has 

 Major Tenace in one plain suit, 

 best and fourth best in another, 

 and a guarded King in the third. 

 Moreover, he is leading through 

 strength and up to declared weak- 

 ness. Yet this lead, through I"s 

 weak play, leads to ruin. 



3. Y obeys the old rule, King 

 ever. Queen never; and has the 

 satisfaction of believing for a little 

 while that he has gained a trick. 



4. But why does he lead trumps ? 

 He should have Itnomn that A led 

 trumps because he wanted to be 

 led up to in trumps, while Z led 

 them because he wanted to be led 

 up to in any plain suit. 3''s play 

 here destroys Y-Z, horse, foot, and 

 artillery. Y should have led Club 

 Knave. Would he have done so 

 if he had remembered that Z still 

 held the trump card ? I doubt it. 



6. Z must now lead from his 

 Tenace. Had Y led Club Knave 

 all would still have been well. 



8. .S'must cover. 



9. By holding back the Diamond 

 Queen A somewhat increases (so 

 far as he knows) the chance of 

 making two tricks in Diamonds. 

 Probably, however, as turns out to 

 be the case, B holds Diamond 

 Ten. 



A:id A B score two by cards. 



The game should have 



Y B 



H4 H 10 



A 

 1.— H3 



2.— HK 



— 1— 

 3.— S 3 



4.— H A 



5.— S 5 



6.— C 2 



7.— C9 



8.— H 9 



— 3— 



9.— S9 

 10.— D 7 

 11.— D Q 

 12.— D A 



H 6 H2 

 S 8 S Q 

 H Kn H S 

 S K S 2 



— 3— 



C Kn C K 



C3 

 C6 

 D2 

 D4 

 D5 

 D6 



C4 



C 8 



S4 



S6 



D9 



D 10 



DKn 



13.— S 10 D 8 

 — 5— 



And J' ^ score two by cards and the game. 



been played as follows : — 

 Z 



NOTES. 



3. By holding back the King Y 

 increases his chance of leading up 

 to Z, as Z manifestly (to any 

 Whist-playing partner) desu'es. 



6. Y's lead kills the enemy's 

 Club King, and 



7, 8 enables Zia force out the 

 long trump. 



12. Z'a Diamond King, though 

 it falls, has been a tower of 

 strength to him all the same. But 

 for it and its useful guard, a 

 Diamond lead by A at trick 9 

 would have given A-B three tricks 

 in Diamonds. 



HQ 



h7 



S A 



O 



H 5 



S7 



C A 

 — 4— 

 CQ 

 — 5— 

 C 10 



SKn 

 — 6— 

 C7 



c'5 

 — 8— 

 DK 



D3 



It is noteworthy and fall of meaning that, while members 

 of all religious persuasions are very ready to accuse of 

 blasphemy any who question the scientific accuracy of state- 

 ments in the books they consider inspired, the converse 

 charge of blasphemy in regarding inaccurate statements as 

 inspired is very seldom heard. It seems to many reasonable 

 enough to say, " You are wicked to recognise error in what 

 God has written," but few think of saying, " You are wicked 

 to recognise God's writing in what is erroneous." Possibly 

 this is because the many who do not think are not only 

 blind to error, but cannot see the absurdity of imagining 

 men adopting a belief out of pure wickedness of heart ; 

 while the few who think for themselves not only recognise 

 error, but see also that belief even in error cannot conceivably 

 be a wilful sin. If a man should say to a student of zoology, 

 " You must be very wicked to say the hare does not chew 

 the cud, for God .says in Leviticus that the hare does chew the 

 cud," the student cannot retort, " You must be very wicked 

 to assert that God says the hare chews the cud, when the hare 

 himself declines to do anything of the sort ; " for the same 

 reasoning power which enables the student of knowledge to 

 ascertain that the hare is really unable to chew the cud 

 enables him also to see that the man who accuses him of 

 blasphemy for recognising a scientific fact is really unable to 

 recognise the absurdity of the idea. 



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Contents of No, 15. 



PAGE 



The Beginning of Christianity. By 



Richard A. Proctor 49 



The Story of Creation : a Plain Ac- 

 count of Evolution. By Edward 



Clodd 51 



Indian .Myths. By '• Stella Occidens " 52 



Coal. By \V. Mattien Williams .. 54 



Evolution of Language 55 



A Whist Superstition. By " Five of 



CluDs" 57 



One-Scale Atlas 58 



The Naturalist"? Laboratory 59 



Solution of Puzzles 60 



PAGE 



Puzzles 61 



Tne Southern Skits for March .... 62 

 Origin of Comets and Meteors. By 



Richard A. Proctor 64 



A Yankee at King Arthur's Court.. 64 



Gossip. By Richard A. Proctor . . 66 



Reviews 67 



The Face of the Skv for January. 



ByF.R.A.S 70 



Our Whist Column. By " Five of 



Clubs" 71 



Our Chess Column. By *' Me- 



phisto *' 72 



