Evening journal., 1918-12-12
BILLIARDS HARD
TO TRACE TO origin
Famous Old Indoor Sport $
Development is Shrouded
in Mystery
MIGHT HAVE COME
FROM OLD BOWLS


Billiards Is game the origin OF
which no one can with certainty tell
Like bowling, 70 Is thought by many
to have been derived from the ancient
British game of bowls. When bowls
could not be played out of doors be-
cause OF the weather, a gOwling green
was seb mp indoors, and as thc~ Wsi
nO fun IN hurling The balls I'm such
close quarters they were struck with
mace, dnd later with a cue.
Many men believe that billiards was
not an Invention, but a growth. while
Others maintain. most likely because
OF The name, that 10 was a lrench i'm
tention, and they contend that 70 was
played bN the Germans Dutch. Italians
and French long before 70 appeared inI
England HAT 8n this matter there IS
room for doubt A number OF literary
references 10 the game may be found
h ElEabethian days.
Mary Queen Of Scots was an onthu-
siastie bllllani player and Shakespeare
seems Co make some covert references
iO this fact when in his Antony and
cleopatra he makes Cleopatra play at
billiards. Ben Jonson uses the phrase
smooth as q billiard ball" Long after
these mon wrote, Byron makes the
"harmles game Of billiards rhyme
with "millards,"
lu all The oa'ly billiard tables there
were pockets Of melted holes" When
The game was introduced into the
lniiud States billiard tables had six
pockets, and a century ago O common |
same Of billiards was very Ike pool, l
only that it was played with six balls. /
American pool was no doubt derived |
from a German game Of billiards called |
the "pylautd gamc,N which was eX- /
rcedIngly popular in Vienna. 70 was /
billiards, and Of course, the tables had I
pockets, played with Twenty-Five balls, !
tweniy-one Of which were set close to-
geihef IN The form Of a triangle near
one end Of the table.
Early four ball billiards was called
IN England "the American or four ball
game" An old English writer says
that it was played with two white, one
red and one blue ball, and that "tho
game Is thirty-one up and scored by
winning hazards and cannons."
Three bah billiards was probably a
French variation OF The game called
lhe "cannonbole game one red and
two white balls were used and both
cannons and hazards were counted.
No doubt the cushion car0m games
are descended from That form Of bill-
iards called the "briocle game" I'm an
old chronicle 10 is said of this game
that the player IS Obliged 10 strike a
cushion and make the ball reverberate
or recoil from 10 previous to hitting his
sdversary's ball. This is a great dis
advantage and IS reckoned between
equal players equivalent 90 about eight
or nine points"
NJ billiard balls sent out by FIRST
class makers are true when they start
10 market, but they do not Is a rule Sc
main so.
The usage they ordinarily gel is care
less and Indifferent Sometimes a BAH
that is true in the beginning will be-
come untrue even with the best treat
ment one can give it. Change in tenn
Dcraturc is an important factor, for The
ivory may expand or contract mO-e in
one part than in another and the ivory
may be dcnser in one part Of The ball
Than in another, so that its sphericiiy
i disturbed
When there is a difference in The
specific gravity Of ivory the makers
aim 60 utilize that part Of the iyO,y
which is The heaviest as the centre Of
hc ball lt is one Of The incest and
most delicious operations I'm mechanics
10 turn out three balls. an Of which VA
be The same size. same weight and as
he same time shall be exact spheres
md OF The same degree OF elasticity and
In an old hook. which may be seen
N the Library Of Congress and which
Vas written when the game Of billiards
Vas young 10 is said That great delicacy
S required in making billiard balls. as
he centre Of the ball must be the centre :
IF gravity. and this would not be unless
! portion 0f The tooth from which 10 is
made contained ihc common centre OF
he heaviest part OF The ivory. Accord
ng 90 that old book the mode Of testing A
he sphcrciiy Of The ban was by means
'f steel gauge, a hollow cone or CALI
,er compasses. 10 continues: :
There are modes Of testing its gravity
BESIDES propciing 10 in a straight line,
tich, for example, AS dropping a
marked ball through a transparent nuid.
n descending through which. III per-
cctly true, 90 viii retain its position,
Iut the success OF this experiment de
'cnds on very nice arrangements"
Instruments of precision OF the most
aultless nicely are now made. and a
et Of ivory balls that satisfy the tests
or sDherlcity. weight and rcsilicncy are
19rvels Of perfection in workmanship
nd material The matter OF identical
csiliency is important. because as re-
ilicncy differs, so viii the angle Of