Sir J. J. Thomson, addressing the British Association at Winnipeg (Canada) made the following remarks concerning the intimate connection of mathematics with the game of billiards;" I once had an illustration of the powers of the concrete in stimulating the mind, which made a very lasting impression on me. One of my first pupils came to me with the assurance from his previous teacher that he knew little and cared legs about mathematics, and had no chance of obtaining a degree on the subject. For some time I thought this estimate was correct, but he happened to be enthusiastic about billiards, and when we were reading a part of mechanics which deals with the collision of electric bodies, I pointed out that many of the effects he was constantly observing in billiards were illustrations of the subject we were studying. From that time he was a changed man. He had never before regarded mathematics as anything but a means of annoying innocent undergraduates.
Now when he saw what important results it could obtain he became enthusiastic about it, developed very considerable mathematical ability; and although he had already wasted two or three years at college, took a good place in the Mathematical Tripos."