Composition balls have advantages besides their cheapness, but the demand for them continues to be almost confined in this country to ball-pool. The prejudice against them for caroms is still, as it was thirty-six years ago, that they are not ivory. The interval has greatly improved them, however, and this year’s promise of “absolute perfection” may at least result in coming closer to it than ever before.
The match-standard American carom-ball, always of ivory, is of 2⅜ diameter, with the red no larger than the whites. Standard ones for ordinary use are, when new, either 2⅜ full or 27
16 scant.
PART I.
MANUAL.
In billiards first impressions form no inconsiderable bearing upon the future practice, and success depends, to a considerable extent, whether these impressions be good or bad, true or false. Too often one endeavoring to learn without the aid of an instructor falls into error through a misunderstanding of the first principles, or a disregard for them, in efforts to accomplish the desired ends, by means which at the moment appear the readiest, but are liable, in the majority of cases, to be at variance, and opposed to the laws governing the principle. Repetitions of this fault create a habit, and the player, finding his game does not show the satisfactory improvement he has reason to expect, seeks a remedy in an instructor who, seeing the false ideas governing his pupil’s movements, is forced to rid him of all that he has acquired, and recommence upon an entirely new basis. All know the difficulty of changing at once the ideas which have been long entertained, even though one is satisfied of their falsity; and to avoid this it is better, when possible, to start in a proper manner, secure a competent teacher, and accustom one’s self to the proper mode of play in the beginning. A teacher, to be valuable, should be able not only to show how the stroke is to be made, but to make it and tell why the effect is produced and how, to give the reasons for the different motions, and, in fact, to understand the philosophy as well as the practice of the game.
There have been published some fifty or more volumes upon the game of billiards, in English, French, and German, and despite this number the remark has often been made that one cannot learn to execute well from a book. This, to a great extent, has been the fault of the authors, who have been obscure in their meanings, have not shown the simple reasons why each particular description of stroke is made, and have indulged too much in perplexing fractions and algebraic problems, or else they have reached the opposite extreme, and give no particulars other than how to strike the ball, and what the result will be after it is so struck. It has been the desire and effort of the writer to make the following directions and diagrams so plain and comprehensible that any one, by the exercise of ordinary care, can learn to play billiards well, by following them, and the finished player may be able to learn something further by a study of these pages. But, in order that this end may be attained, the player is urged to follow the teachings implicitly, and where his own views may be in conflict with those herein expressed, he should discard them and conform strictly with those found hereafter. Every diagram and example in this volume has been carefully tested, and if the stroke is made as required, the result is inevitably as set forth; should it fail, the player will discover some divergence on his part from the instruction.
ATTITUDE.
The acquisition of a good attitude is a point of the first importance to the student of billiards, and yet, from its purely physical nature, is a subject which almost defies the control of any written rules. There are peculiarities of height and figure which render the rules that would be excellent in one case totally inapplicable in the other; thus it is impossible to define by inches the distance at which a player should stand from the table, when about to strike; for not only will the different statures of men cause a difference of position—but, even with the same player, different positions of the ball will call for corresponding changes of attitude.
Under these circumstances, the best that can be done is to give a general direction, which each student must apply for himself to his own particular case. Let him stand with his left foot slightly advanced, his left arm extended and resting on the table to form a bridge, and his body, not facing the table squarely, but forming an acute angle with the side at which he stands; let him relax all the muscles of his limbs into their usual and most natural posture—for rigidity of body is at all times awkward and ungraceful, and seriously interferes with play. The striking motion should be confined to the wrist and arm, and chiefly to the lower division of it; athletes in billiards, or those persons who throw their bodies forward after the cue, would do well to renounce the “game,” for that quality totally unfits them for the delicacy of touch and firmness of body, eye, and purpose, which are the grand essentials of success. The body should remain immovable as a rock, while the right arm swings to and fro at a sufficient distance to avoid contact with the side, when advancing. All spasmodic motion and muscular contortions should be avoided; mere bodily strength in the player will not give strength to his stroke; the quantity of motion imparted to the ball will correspond precisely with the weight of the cue multiplied by the velocity with which it is advancing at the instant of contact; and therefore the only force required from the player, even for the strongest stroke, is force enough to cause his cue to move forward at a rate of speed which, multiplied by its gravity, will give the required result. As said, this motion should emanate especially from the wrist and forearm. It is impossible to describe exactly what should be conveyed; but if the readers, when striking, will imagine that they are throwing a lasso, and give the same quick, steady force of wrist to the cue that is required in flinging the coil, they will understand exactly what is required.
It is owing to the knowledge of this secret, that men, physically weak, are frequently more than a match in billiard-strength for players who have the proportions of Hercules, and the “dead pull” of Samson when he brought down the pillars of the temple on the heads of the assembled heathen.