The Book of Sports. William Martin
up all the marbles he has won to the player whose taw struck his."
LAG OUT OR KNOCK OUT.
This game is played by throwing a marble against the wall, which rebounds to a distance. Others then follow; and the boy whose marble strikes against any of the others is the winner. Some boys play the game in a random manner; but the boy who plays with skill judges nicely of the law of forces, that is, he calculates exactly the force of the rebound, and the direction of it.
The first law of motion is, that everything preserves a state of rest, or of uniform rectilineal (that is, straight, motion), unless affected by some moving force.
Second law.—Every change of motion is always proportioned to the degree of the moving force by which it is produced, and it is made in the line of direction in which that force is impressed.
Third law.—Action and reaction are always equal and contrary, or the mutual action of two bodies upon each other are always equal and directed to contrary parts.
To illustrate the first of these laws—a marble will never move from the ground of itself, and once put in motion, it will preserve that motion until some other power operates upon it in a contrary direction.
With regard to playing Lag Out so as to win, you must further understand the principle of reflected motion. If you throw your marble in a straight line against the wall, you find that it comes back to you nearly in a straight line again. If you throw it ever so slightly on one side, or obliquely, it will fly off obliquely on the opposite side. If you throw the marble from the point C to the point B, it will fly off in the direction of the point A, and if a marble lay there it would hit it; but if you threw it from the point D, you would stand no chance.
In science, the angle C, B, D, is called the angle of incidence, and D, B, A, is called the angle of reflection.
THREE HOLES.
Three Holes is not a bad game. To play it, you must make three small holes about four feet apart: then the first shot tries to shoot a marble into the first hole. If he gets in, he goes from that to the second, and then to the third hole, after which he returns, and having passed up and down three times, he thus wins the game. If he cannot get in the first hole, the second player tries; and when he stops short at a hole, the third, and so on. After any player has shot his marble into a hole, he may fire at any adversary's marble to drive him away, and, if he hits him, he has a right to shoot again, either for the hole or any other player. The game is won by the player who gets first into the last hole and works his way back again to the first, when he takes all his adversaries' marbles.
ARCHES.
To play arches, the players must be provided with a board of the following shape, with arches cut therein; each arch being a little more than the diameter of a marble, and each space between the arches the same.
The boy to whom the bridge belongs receives a marble from each boy who shoots, and gives to each the number of marbles over the arches should they pass through them.
BONCE-EYE.
Bonce-Eye is played by each player putting down a marble within a small ring, and dropping from the eye another marble upon them so as to drive them out, those driven out being the property of the Boncer.
The law of falling bodies may be well illustrated by this game. It is one of the laws of motion, that the velocities of falling bodies are in proportion to the space passed over; and the space passed over in each instant increases in arithmetical progression, or as the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.
By the annexed diagram it will be seen, that if a marble fall from the hand at A, when it reaches B it has only the quantity of velocity or force expressed in the angle 1; but when it passes to C, it has the quantity expressed in the three angles 3; when it passes to D, it has the quantity expressed in the angle 5; when it passes to E, it has the quantity expressed by the seven angles marked 7. Thus we may understand why a tall boy has a better chance at Bonce-Eye than a short one.
It is found by experiment, that a body falling from a height moves at the rate of 16–1/12 feet in the first second; and acquires a velocity of twice that, or 32–⅙ feet, in a second. At the end of the next second, it will have fallen 64–⅓ feet; the space being as the square of the time. The square of 2 is 4; and 4 times 16–1/12 is 64–⅓; by the same rule, it will be found, that in the third second it will fall 144–¾; feet; in the fourth second, 257–⅓; and so on. This is to be understood, however, as referring to bodies falling where there is no air. The air has a considerable effect in diminishing their velocity of descent.
SUN AND THE PLANET TAW.
This is an entirely new game, and consists of the Sun in the centre, which may be represented by a bullet, because the sun is the most ponderous body of the system, and will in this game be required to move slowly. The planets moving round him, with their satellites, I represent by marbles. Now, each boy must take the place of a planet; and having taken it, he is required to put down as many marbles as there are satellites belonging to it. The boy who plays Mercury, puts down only one for his planet; the boy who plays Venus does the same; he who plays the Earth, has to put down one for the Earth, and one for the Moon, its satellite; the boy who plays Mars puts down Mars and the four satellites that lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; the boy who plays Saturn puts down one for the planet, and draws a ring round it, outside of which he puts the seven satellites in any position he chooses; the boy who plays the planet Herschel, puts down one for the planet, and six for the satellites. Each boy, having taken his place in this manner, lays down his taw on any part of the orbit of his planet he pleases, being the point from which he must make his first shot.
The rules of the game are very easy; but it is necessary to be perfectly acquainted with them, as it saves much trouble, and prevents disputes; and no one ought to play till he understands them tolerably well.
1. The players must each put his marble into a hat, and turn down the hat over the sun; then, as the marbles fall near or far from the sun, the planets are taken.
2. The player who puts in Mercury has the first shot.
3. No planet can be taken till the Sun has been struck beyond the orbit of Mercury.
4. The player who strikes the Sun beyond the orbit of Mercury, receives from the person who holds the orbit, as many marbles as there are planets or satellites in the