Much to say that ought to be useful to his
readers. He begins by
telling them that many persons play billiards for years without knowing how to strike the ball properly ; and he suggests a simple test of this statement,—" Try and see how many times you can play from baulk, striking your ball with the tip of your cue, and play hard against the top cushion without any side, so that the ball comes back into baulk straight." Mani certainly, if they want to feel sure of coming back straight, use the butt. Again he says, "Always, or almost always, hit your ball in the centre." This will be new. Most of us have thought that if you want to "follow-on," you must hit the ball high. Mr. Cook does not think much of teaching billiards on mathe_ matical principles. "I have been told," he writes, "that the co- efficient of dynamical friction" is an important point in the theory of billiards. I am willing, however, to let any scientific 'gentleman calculate it to a nicety on any table, and although I have not the slightest idea what it means, I will give him 30 in 100 and play him for a sovereign." But this is not the point. It is not a question of practice against theory, but practice against theory plus practice. Mr. Cook knowing about dynamical friction might possibly be better than Mr. Cook ignorant of it. That he would be better than the last Senior Wrangler may be allowed without difficulty. We cannot follow the writer through his instructions, and, indeed, do not feel disposed to criticise them if we wished to do so. The "give you thirty in a hundred and play you for a sovereign" is a test which a critic naturally fears. Generally, we may say that the instructions seem clearly expressed, and that they are illustrated by diagrams. The editor adds a history of billiards as it has been played of late years.
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