OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ROWING. 149 



nearly equal. I believe I shall be able to indicate the 

 existence of a cause quite sufficient to account for the series 

 of defeats sustained in the years 1861-69 D 7 Cambridge, 

 and for the change of fortune experienced when for a while 

 the Cambridge oarsmen adopted the style of rowing which 

 has prevailed for many years at the sister university. 



I may premise that Cambridge has an important advan- 

 tage over Oxford in the fact that she has a far larger number 

 of men to choose from in selecting a university crew. It 

 may seem to many, at first sight, that as good a crew 

 might well be selected from three hundred as from five 

 hundred boating-men ; because it is not to be supposed 

 that either number would supply many more than eight 

 first-rate oarsmen. But it must be remembered that there 

 are first-rate oarsmen and first-rate oarsmen. The un- 

 practised eye may detect very little difference between the 

 best and the worst oarsmen in such crews as Oxford and 

 Cambridge yearly send to contend for the blue-riband of the 

 river. But differences exist ; and if the best man of the 

 crew were replaced by one equal in rowing ability to the 

 worst, or vice versa , an important difference wou'd be 

 observed in the time of rowing over the racing course, under 

 similar conditions of wind, tide, and so forth. Accordingly, 

 a large field for the selection of the men is a most impor- 

 tant advantage. Taking, for instance, the five hundred 

 rowing men of Cambridge and dividing them into two sets 

 one of three hundred men, corresponding to the three 

 hundred rowing men of Oxford, and the other of two hun- 

 dred men we see that the first set ought to supply a crew 

 strong enough to meet Oxford, and the^ second a crew 

 nearly as strong. Now, if the best men of the two Cam- 

 bridge crews thus supposed to be formed are combined 

 say five taken from the first and three from the second, all 

 the inferior men being struck out a far stronger crew than 

 either of the others would undoubtedly be formed. 



So that if Cambridge were generally the winner in 

 these contests, the Oxonians would be able to account tor 



