Oct. 10, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



307 



0UV WBln^t Column. 



SIR, — The illustration given by " Five of Clubs" in Knowledge 

 of Sept. 12 appears to mo unsound, for Y must make two 

 tricks if he does 7io( discard his winning Spade, but plays what is 

 manifestly the proper card, i.e., the Club three, keeping the Heart 

 (ive, so as not to have to lead up to the tenace in Clubs. Thus i — 



Trick 1. — 4 leads Diamonds — Queen; F plays Club three. 'Won 

 by A. 



Trick 2. — A leads Spade. Won by T, with Queen. B plays 

 Club two. 



Trick 3. — T leads Heart five. Won by B, with Queen. 



Trick 4. — B must lead a Club, and 1' must make his Knave. 



If, at trick 2, A leads his Heart, I" must still make his Club 

 Knave and Spade Queen. — I am, sir, &c., Konge. 



UNSCIENTIFIC AMERICAN WHIST. 



When I wrote in Loiigman*.^ Magazine an article on the science 

 of the game of Poker — which maybe called a thoroughly American 

 game — many journalists in America expressed their doubts whether 

 I should not be altogether beaten at the game itself by men who 

 know nothing of the scientific principles which are really involved 

 in the game. I think this not unlikely, considering that I have 

 never taken a hand at the game — to which I may add that I am 

 never likely to do so, the game being a purely gambling one, and 

 gambling, in my opinion, is a degrading practice for any above the 

 condition of the savage. But, during my recent stay in America, 

 I have had occasion to play pretty frequently at the more scientific 

 game — Whist, and I have been led to notice certain peculiarities 

 in the way in which Americans play this game (growing gradually 

 in favour among them) which shows that they have still much to 

 learn. Of course nothing of what I am about to say is intended to 

 apply to those Americans who know and appreciate what may be 

 called the European method of playing Whist ; only to those, ninety- 

 nine I think out of a hundred, who regard themselves as good 

 Whist players, but are not acquainted with — or despise — the con- 

 ventional language of the game. 



I note, first, that Americans very sensibly object to the part which 

 honours play in Whist at home. The utmost they will allow honours 

 to count is one-half our estimate. That is to say, if two partners 

 hold three honours out of the four, they count "one" only instead 

 of "two"; if they hold all fourthey count "two" instead of "four." 

 But most Americans prefer to count nothing for honours. In one 

 sense this is good, for it makes more depend on skill, and Whist is a 

 game of skill; in another sense, however, it rather injures the game, 

 because it eliminates those pretty positions which frequently arise 

 where the saving of a game or of a point depends on making a 

 certain number of tricks, counting before honours, already declared 

 against you. Looking keenly out for the honours, or indications of 

 their position, a good player sees that such and such tricks must 

 be made to save the game, and plays entireh- to make them, entirely 

 changing his tactics perhaps for the purpose. 



Again, Americans prefer long Whist to short, and here again the 

 game loses certain points of great interest, arising when the play 

 depends on details of the score. 



But the chief point which is noticeable in American Whist play 

 is that which Deschapelles (far and away the greatest Whist 

 player ever known) called the most detestable fault a Whist-player 

 can have : Americans at Whist are inveterate " players of their 

 own hand." They will not admit, or cannot see, the advantage (in 

 nine cases out of ten) of that system by which each player regards 

 his own hand and his partner's as one — a system by which the 

 game is made really scientific. For this system the general rule 

 holds that it is better to inform your partner than to deceive the 

 enemy. The American who considers himself strong at Whist 

 adopts, instead, the principle that it is best to play a dark 

 game. He reasons that by playing dark he hides his own hand 

 from the adversaries, while, if they play the open game, he 

 knows something about their hands — a manifest advantage, if his 

 unfortunate partner had no part to play. But as the partner is 

 equally deceived, and so far from helping is like to obstruct, the 

 mischief much outbalances the advantage of the dark game. This 

 I had known theoretically long since. But never till I played 

 Whist in America did I have such clear proof of the fact as I have 

 recently had. I hare played repeatedly with a partner who knows 

 the Whist language, against two partners, each of whom plays his 

 own hand with considerable skill. Repeatedly I have been per- 

 plexed by the play of one or other of the adversaries, and occa- 

 sionally I have .seen that they have been able to make use to their 

 advantage of those indications by which I and my partner indicate 

 the cards we hold in particular suits. But I have satisfied myself 



that at least one trick in ten is gained in the long run (by which I 

 mean that ten tricks are made for nine) by playing the open game, 

 the two partners working together against two adversaries working 

 separately. 



Among the methods of play arising from this one-hand (or my- 

 own-hand) system, is the practice of leading from a short-suit or 

 a singleton, if no suit has much strength. This Americans do 

 ((uite irrespectively of the (luestion whether they hold few or many 

 trumps. It is bad enough to lead thus, even when yon hold only 

 two or three trumps; but to lead from a singleton or a two-card 

 suit, when you hold four trumps, is surely a Whist atrocity of the 

 first magnitude. You get your anxiously-desired ruff, and presently 

 find that your partner has a fine suit which only needed that fourth 

 trump of yours to be brought in : instead, however, the enemy lead 

 trumps, get the command in them owing to your cleverness, bring 

 in their good suits, and make a great game. To which must be 

 added that while, by leading from a very short suit, you fail to tell 

 your partner which is your long suit, you quickly disclose to the 

 whole table which is your weak suit : you omit to give your partner 

 the only kind of information which, as a rule, can really be of use 

 to him, and give the enemy just that kind of information which is 

 most useful to them. For, as double dummy shows, there is no 

 information at Whist more useful than that which tells where the 

 weak suits of the enemy lie. 



It will be understood that Americans like to play a ruffing game, 

 and are in their glory when they get a cross-ruff. (In fact the 

 only excuse for leading from a singleton is the chance of estab- 

 lishing a cross-ruff.) I roused intense wrath in an American 

 partner when, after he had estahhshed a cross-mff, I broke it by 

 leading trumps. I had five, and a strong suit which had been 

 established ; he had led me a suit which I had been obliged to 

 trump, and I could have led him twice from a suit ho could ruff. 

 We should thus have made by the cross-ruff five tricks, but no 

 more, and two of these wonld have been sure ones anyhow. But 

 of course I played no such game. I led trumps to stop the croas- 

 ruff ; got out all the trumps (making three tricks in that suit be- 

 sides the two ruffs), brought in my strong suit, making three tricks 

 in that — or eight instead of five. Yet he never ceased to rebuke 

 me for stopping a cross-ruff which would have ruined us. — Neiccastle 

 Weeily Chronicle. 



One of the most attractive objects at the Nice Exhibition is 

 said to be a Chinese clock, which is stated only to date back to 

 800 B.C. 



A DESPATCH from Washington recently stated that an Australian 

 syndicate proposes to lay a cable from Brisbane, Australia, to San 

 Francisco, and that the Government of the Hawaiian Islands will 

 probably grant a subsidy towards the enterprise, amounting to 

 £4,000 per annum for fifteen yeai's. 



Ixc.iNDESCEXT electric lamps are being used to show how things 

 are getting on in a temperature of 600° Fah., in Messrs. Perkins & 

 Sons' bakers' oven at the Healtheries. The oven door contains a 

 sheet of plate glass, through which the whole of the oven is 

 distinctly visible. 



A Red Sol.4R H.\lo. — M. Forel, a French savant, has observed 

 a remarkable reddish halo round the sun from a position in the 

 Bernese Alps on August 20. At an altitude of 1,000 metres the 

 phenomenon was visible, at 1,500 metres it was quite distinct, and 

 at 3,000 metres it appeared of striking splendour. The effect was 

 repeatedly seen by M. Forel about this time and at different places 

 in Switzerland, such as Grimsel, Innert-kirchet, and the Glacier du 

 Rhone. The phenomenon was also observed in July by M. Forel at 

 Saas-Fee at an altitude of 1,800 metres ; and he does not hesitate 

 to affirm that during the months of July and August last a red 

 halo or corona surrounded the sun, which, though difficult to see at 

 low altitudes, became quite brilliant at 2,000 metres above the sea. 

 It would be well if aeronauts would keep a look-out for this pheno- 

 menon. — Eng ineering. 



PuRcn.\sED Titles. — M. Jules Claretie, in the Tertips, exposes the 

 operations of an Italian agency that offers to supply titles of every 

 degree of nobility for a fixed sum. The circulars of this novel 

 bureau are usually addressed to bankers and flourishing financial 

 agents in every part of Europe. The informant has become pos- 

 sessed of one of the missives, which is couched as follows : — " Sir, — 

 Knowing the high position j-ou justly hold in the financial world, 

 and wishing you to profit by the same, either in the interests of 

 your business or those of your family, through resources of nobility, 

 I have the honour to inform you that I can, against an amount 

 officially fixed, obtain for you either certain decorations or a title, 

 which would doubtless facilitate the transactions which you have 

 undertaken. Title of prince, 75,C00 francs ; duke, 59,000 francs ; 

 count, 25,000 francs ; baron, 20,000 francs. All warranted, and 

 in good form. Trusting to the favour of an early answer, — I am, 

 sir, &c." 



