An interesting and novel suggestion is made by a reader of The Billiard Monthly to the effect that it might be a good thing if billiard instruction were included in school curricula. At superficial sight the idea may appear to some to be bordering on the fantastic, but we have no doubt, for our own part, of its soundness and practicality. The object of school tuition is, we take it, to fit boys and girls for life's career, in all its healthful aspects, and also to exercise and strengthen their intellectual and observant faculties whilst they are still young The old notion that school training need concern itself with nothing beyond the acquisition of pen and book knowledge has long since passed away, and the most approved modern school is the one that turns out fit young citizens—fit in muscle as in brain and in dexterity as in knowledge.
It was with ideas such as this that the late Mr Cecil Rhodes made his famous bequest of sixty Colonial Scholarships to Oxford University, such scholarships not to be available to mere bookworms, but to those students who, in addition to literary and classical attainment showed the greatest proficiency in snorts and pastimes of all kinds. A clear route to the University is thus made through the pleasant avenues of the cricket and football field, the golf courses and river oarsmanship.
There may be those who are disposed to argue that such national sports as are above indicated are on a different plane altogether from billiards, which is not an athletic pursuit and not calculated, consequently, to build up the stamina of the race. Well, if billiards is not athletics, it is not, at least, very far from being so, and its advantages both from the health and educational standpoints have often been pointed out by men well qualified to express an opinion.
There are thousands of men to-day who would have comparatively little exercise if it were not for the billiard practice that they indulge in during the long winter evenings in their homes. Miles are walked in the course of an evening in this way, and the great variety of body positionings that a game of billiards necessitates is quite as good in its way as the same amount of time spent over a series of Sandow exercises.
The case from the intellectual side is still stronger and has been well stated by Sir J. J. Thomson, who, 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 less 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."
Billiards, when properly studied and practised, is, indeed, a highly-intellectual pastime and pursuit. No person who is not intellectually-alert can succeed at the game, and for proof that accomplished billiard players would be capable of highly-intelligent work, apart from the game, if they turned their thoughts in other directions, it is only necessary to look at their eyes. The idea may seem whimsical to those who have not considered it, but the present writer has, during many years, noticed that eyes of an exceptionally fine class and quality are almost invariably associated with the professional and best amateur billiard players It is not sought to argue here that the possession of fine eves intrinsically influences billiard play, or that billiard play has the effect of enhancing eve lustre, but what we do venture to say is that, other things being equal, it may be taken for granted that there are very few clouds in the mind of an expert billiardist, and if we were selecting a youth from a school to train for an important position in business life, we should unhesitatingly give preference to one who could, amongst his other records, point to marked success at the school or college billiard table.
In Scotland this idea of billiard training for schoolboys and University students has already taken root and has been carried out with success for some years past. It is recognised by the advocates of the movement that billiard practice, rightly directed, possesses considerable mental, physical, and even moral value Where better than at the billiard table can the essentials of cool calculation, self-control, and good sportsmanship be acquired' And if this idea be worth carrying out at all we suggest that it would be worth doing well Why should not the familiar long dining tables at boarding schools be replaced by three or four combined dining and billiard tables, practice at which during suitable hours might be permitted, under the supervision of a competent instructor, to all students who, by their attention to their book studies and by their general conduct showed themselves deserving of what would doubtless prove to be a highly-coveted concession. Thus the dining-hall of mid-day would be transformed into the well equipped billiard and recreation hall of study intervals and wet or winter holiday afternoons, to the great enjoyment of the boys and to the advantage, much more than to the detriment, of their later lives.