TWO BOOKS ON BILLIARDS.*
GAMES, and especially ball games, provide many incidental pleasures. There is the sheer physical joy of a well-delivered stroke known to every cricketer, tennis player, golfer, or base- ball player ; even the spectators can share in it, if one may judge from the eager attention with which an American crowd watches the preliminary practice of their favourites before there is any thought of beginning the game itself. There are, moreover, genuine intellectual pleasures for those who can unravel the mysteries of movement of a spinning ball'. It is well known how important a part such pleasures played in the last years of Professor P. G. Tait, and what surprises the flight of a golf ball had in store even for so learned an investigator. Perhaps there are other surprises to come, not in the general laws, but in details. Professor Tait knew the general laws well enough, but started with wrong preconcep- tions as to detail; and though we know in a general way bow a " googlie." is produced, there may be room for interesting work on the precise values of the necessary spine.
Colonel Western has discovered for himself one of these intellectual problems and its approximate solution. It is II problem of a simple kind, for he reduces the consideration of spin on the ball (which is responsible for the most serious difficulties) to a minimum. The main part of his book is concerned with the answer to the question, What happens when one billiard ball rolls up to another at rest and strikes it at various points, from "full" through "half ball " to grazing incidence P He has insisted on inverting the usual nomencla- ture for the intermediate grades, and this seems a pity, for it will alienate some people' without any adequate gain. But this idiosyncrasy need not distract our attention from the value of his work in explaining very clearly the geometry of the resulting motions in such a way that those who shrink from mathematical formula3 may understand them without difficulty. No doubt he regards his own achieve, ment much too seriously. " The laws governing the motion and direction of the balls, which constitute the whole art and essence of. the game, are quite unknown, and
* (1) The Practical Science of Billiards rind Pointer." By Col. C. M.
Western, (late) Royal Artillery. London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co. 13s. 6d. net.]—(2) 71161) CComplete. Billiard Bayer. By Charles Roberts''4 ( Vivid.") With 285 Diagrams and 27 Photographs. London : Methuen and Co. (10s. 6d. net.i with one exception no attempt appears to have been made ever to investigate them." This was, according to Colonel Western, the state of things before he wrote his book, though he acknowledges that he subsequently became aware of an " abstruse scientific work, beyond the grasp of any but advanced mathematicians," by G. W. Returning, R.C. ; and probably further search would have extended the exceptions. And how are the laws to be investigated without "advanced mathematics " P Colonel Western has only taken a simple case, and though he has dealt with it admirably, expounding the solution probably far more clearly than an "advanced mathematician" might have done, he has evaded most of the difficulties to which the man of science feels bound to devote his chief attention.
But here, again, the personal estimate of the author need not obscure the real merit of his work. If a sentence or two in the introduction were modified and the distraction of an unfamiliar nomenclature removed, we should have an admirable elementary exposition of the simple " stroke " in all its phases, which the beginner would find it a pleasure to follow by trying the experiments himself; for the book is eminently practical. " Finally," the author writes, " which is perhaps the most weighty argument of all, these laws work out correctly in practice, as can be tested and proved by experiment with the aid of the Pointer,' which is constructed on the above prin. ciples." The Pointer, like the book, costs 3s. 6d. ; but it seems probable that the sowing of these few shillings may provide a plentiful crop of the intellectual pleasures incidental to the game such as Col. Western has himself reaped with satisfaction.
The other book is of a totally different character. If Mr. Charles Roberts were consulted as to the importance of a theoretical knowledge of the " laws governing the motion and direction of the balls," he might find his well-known courtesy under strain ; but he has written a book likely to touch the heart of every one who has ever struggled with a cue ; and the more theoretical knowledge of the laws of motion the reader may have to supplement his want of skill with the cue the more he will enjoy the book. Mr. Charles Roberts was born to billiards : his father and his brother have helped to make the history of the game, and his sister—but let him tell the story himself.
" John Roberts, senior, met his Waterloo at the hands of his pupil and dear friend, W. Cook. . . . Ladies were not admitted, an exception being made in the case of Mrs. Cook only ; but our Emily, not to be outdone, went in charge of a friend of her father, Sam Stuart, in a man's evening dress, and saw the match from start to finish. No one know, not even her father, till afterwards, that she was present."
Among such resolute devotees Mr. Charles Roberts finds him- self something of a family disappointment. "The hereditary gift has always been there. All my friends, and even foes,
allow me that." But he has failed to achieve championship form, and laments his lack of single-hearted devotion to the game as the cause. There is real pathos in the frank admission and in the wistful inquiry whether the present book can in any way atone for the failure. Our reply, after reading the book with real pleasure, is a hearty " Aye."
The general plan of the work, after a brief historical review, is to take the beginner right through the game from the start, with the skill of a real teacher who knows how to keep back troublesome matters until the time is ripe, and to insist on fundamentals. What are the fundamentals P The first of them is constant practice ; the second is holding your cue lightly ; and the third is to stand rightly. Practice first —even those who "can do most things with the balls [know} how hard a mistress is this game of ours and what constant service she demands. How much more must you, who are a beginner, recognize it I " And then, again, the great players all differ in ways of holding their cue, but are "united on one point, that the cue should be held very lightly. That is absolute gospel, and you must copy them there." Finally, " standing as you want to strike is again the order of com- mand, as it has been for many chapters, and will continue to be till the end." Here is firm groundwork for a noble educa- tional structure ! Golfers may doubt (and justify their doubts of) their root maxim of "keeping eye on ball"; but Charles Roberts will have no trifling with billiards.
If you will get these into your head-.-say, y Land and by Water. By into bones—he has much else to tell you ; and he tells it in a way you are not likely to forget.
"It is almost as bad to put too much side' on a ball as it is to affect ' side' in real life. . . • If one's own and the first object ball are very close together, it is almost impossible to make the stroke legally. Therefore one should abide by the laws and play some other stroke, instead of deliberately playing a push and, therefore, foul stroke, which, perhaps, a courteous opponent might allow, although he would not be likely to forget it. . . . My hint is, get into the habit, whenever a follow stroke occurs, of reminding yourself of the responsibility before you and swing your arm a little before hitting."
Such words of wisdom seize the attention and should live in one's memory if there is any trust to be put in it at all. It is not for nothing that Mr. Roberts has been teaching for twenty-five years before be wrote this book. To give anything like an adequate survey of it in a few paragraphs is, of course, impossible. We have praised the easy gradient of instruction, and we may praise the diagrams which illustrate it and the pretty "breaks " suited to all capacities. But the only way to do justice to the book is to buy it, take it into the billiard- room, and work straight through every word and every stroke of it.
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