Even lawn tennis, the most fashionable of them all, and the one which more than any other seems to have taken a permanent hold on the people of this country, appears to be merely a variation of a form of ball played by the Romans; one great difference being that with them the ball had always to be returned before it struck the ground -in fact "volleyed." There is no very definite description of it, but it would seem that, although there was no actual net as now, there was practically an imaginary one; and at the present time the Italians play a game called Pallone, that is probably derived from the same source. Further, a contest that within the last few years has had a place in the programme of most athletic meetings is even more directly one in which the ancients took part. The "tug of war" is quite a modern institution, but it is very nearly the same as a Grecian trial of strength, which appears to have been arranged in two ways, in one of which the only difference between it and the present "tug of war" is that fewer persons took part in it, and that they stood up instead of partly sitting as they do now. In the other, rope was passed over an upper branch of a tree, or through a hole in a high post, and the competitors took hold of the rope, with their backs to the tree, and tried to pull up the opposite side.

the

Of course there is absolutely no means of judging of the relative powers of the ancients and the moderns in games of this description, any more than there is in the case of what used to be called the "noble art of self-defence." That the ancients, especially the Greeks,

did box, and that most savagely, we know. So far from using gloves to lessen the damaging effects of their blows, or even from using simply the power that nature and training had given to their bare fists, they increased this by tying strips of hard bull's hide round them when clenched, and sometimes even attached nails and lead buckles to these, to make their blows more deadly. They also usually, but not always, fought continuously until one of the combatants gave in, "rounds" apparently not being to their taste." But although there seems to have been this savagery about the contests, it by no means follows that a scientific boxer" of the present day would not be able to hold his own in one, if a trial were possible.

66

One more exercise of the ancient Greek athlete I will refer to, for while we do not practice it in the form they did, there is some resemblance between it and the game of skittles, which recently has come into fashion again, after being for many years relegated to the "Good dry skittle ground" which a quarter of a century ago was a frequent legend on the walls of beerhouses, and soon after that date extinguished altogether by an edict of the police. This Grecian pastime, which formed one of the Pentathlon (TEVTάepor) at the Olympic Games, was throwing a heavy piece of cast-iron or stone, called a "diskos" (SLOKOS), which was in shape much like the "cheese" with which the skittle-pins are knocked down; the object of the Greeks being to propel it in a curve to the greatest possible distance. Nevertheless, although the object to be attained was not the same as the

"cheese" is now used for, being more akin to the modern exercise of "putting the stone," it is recognized that the origin of skittles is to be found here, and a fashionable social club which has been established principally for the purpose of the practice of this game, has taken the name of "Diskos" as its title.

"Diskos" is usually translated as meaning a "quoit," but this is an error. There is no resemblance whatever to the game of quoits in that of "throwing the diskos," neither are the instruments used alike. The statues of the Discobolus (SokoBóλos), or thrower of the diskos, in the British Museum and the Vatican, and some of which are reproduced at the Crystal Palace, represent the diskos, exactly as described by Lucian, without handle, aperture, or loop, and it is therefore a mistake to name them "Quoit players," as is done at the latter place. The object of the thrower was, as before stated, to propel the diskos as far as possible, and the distance to which it was ordinarily sent was called "the Diskoura" (Tà diσkovpa), and became a Greek measure of length; but it does not seem to have been a definite one.

To return to the question, Are the athletes of the present superior to those of the past?

It certainly seems to me, from consideration of the various matters referred to, that our modern ones are decidedly physically stronger and capable of greater exertion, and also that, independently of that, they are able to obtain more result from their exertions than the ancients. This appears only reasonably to be expected. We have gone forward in everything, despite the parrot

cry of "Good old times;" and why not in the powers of our athletes? The men of the present day, we know, are larger than they were in bygone years, and therefore they should be more powerful; for it is an acknowledged axiom in sport that, other things being equal, a "big one will always beat a little one." H. ELLINGTON, in The Nineteenth Century.

CURRENT THOUGHT.

PAPERS ON FUNGI.-In Science we read that:

"Botanists owe Professors Farlow and

Trelease a debt of gratitude for the publication of their Bibliography of North American Fungi in the May number of tains a list of such works on North Amerithe Harvard University Bulletin. It concan fungi (excluding the Schizomycetes as belonging rather to the department of medicine than to botany proper) as are of greater or less value to working botanists. It is the first list of the kind yet published, and will show that the general belief of those not specialists in this branch of botany, that little has been written on North American mycology, is by no means cor

rect.

It includes a very large number of papers of a popular and indefinite character relating to fungi not specifically named which are scattered through various agricutural, horticultural, and other journals; the entries are in all cases accom

panied by brief descriptive notes, which adds greatly to the value of the list; it contains also, when procurable, the place and date of birth of the authors included

in the list. The most prolific author noted is M: C. Cooke, whose papers, including those published with other persons, number 71: other prominent authors are J. B. Ellis (50), W. G. Farlow (31), and M. J. Berkeley (30). Probably the complete list tries, of which nearly one-half are given will contain more than seven hundred eninstalment, which reaches

in the present the letter H."