246 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



to be cut seems absolutely perfect, yet when the sphere is 

 turned it may be found that it contains some cavity, due 

 either to imperfect growth or to disease of the tusk, or 

 there may be a small soft area known as a "bean," and this 

 may very seriously diminish the value of the ball. 



As first turned out, billiard balls are not made exactly 

 round, one axis being made somewhat shorter than the other, 

 as the greatest shrinkage does not take place in the diameter, 

 but in the length of the tusk. Thus a ball having a minor 

 diameter of 2J in. and a major diameter of 2J in, will, 

 at the end of two years, have shrunk into a perfect sphere 

 with a diameter of 2i in. The balls generally sold in 

 the American trade for the pocket-billiard gavel game are 

 from 2^ to 2^ in. in diameter; the standard balls of 

 the United States have diameters of 2f or 2 J in., whereas, 

 for Cuba and Latin America they are 2| in. in diameter or 

 something larger. 



Balls having brown or black spots, due to the natural 

 colour of the outer layer or "bark" of the tusk, are less valu- 

 able than those of homogeneous colour. These discolorations 

 are due to the fact that the balls in question have been cut 

 from sections of tusk barely wide enough to allow the req- 

 uisite diameter for the ball, so that a little of the outer layer 

 remains on the sphere. Other deteriorating marks may 

 result from the drying and bleaching processes, the ivory 

 of the tusks becoming thereby either "sand checked" or 

 "sun checked," as it is called. These "checks" are tiny 

 markings or cracks running perpendicularly along the 

 "grain" of the ball. It may here be remarked that neither 

 the discolorations nor the "sand checks" affect the playing 

 quality of the ball; indeed, it has been claimed by many 

 that a "sand-checked" ball is less subject to changing cli- 

 matic influence than an unmarked ball, because ivory of this 

 kind is generally well seasoned. 



