CARDS AND BRAINS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12908, 23 February 1906, Page 7

CARDS AND BRAINS.

Does aptitude for card-playing denote general intelligence ? is a question propounded by a writer in, the Review." It is a question which Mr Basil Tozer says he heard discussed in a county .home, with many men and women -cf distinguished intellectual attainments present, with as much if not more vivacity as anycrucial problem in religion or politics. And a* the differences of opinion -were irreconcilable, he submitted the issue afterwards to other distinguished men and women who might be supposed to have some claim to speak on the r subject, with the result that everyone at the end is free to embrace the view which some one or another of the differing authorities has stated. The question necessarily applies to all games—to chess and its "kindred—--111 which mind plays the same part that muscle does in sports of another nature. No doubt sheer stupidity is as much excluded by aptitude in "mental - games as the idea of a weak heart or twisted leo is shut out of prowess in the arena. But whether, proficiency at the card table or the chessboard postulates special ability in other directions is another and a very dif. ferent matter. Departing altogether" from the track *,f the essayist and his contrionrors, it may he asserted that the truth lies in a seeming paradox—that np 1 .man without abilities can become a firstclass whist or bridge or chess' player, and tnat few men of great abilities, ever are Srst-ciass either at chess or cards. Argument, bow-ever, is clearly possible. And for a decisive negative against the general-ability theory, one need not g& : further than Mr F. G. Aflalo, F.R.G.S.. known to the world as editor and principal contributor to the well-known "Encyclopaedia, of Sport." His condemnation is thorough. The skilled card-player he ranks as merely a man of superficial" sharpcess, a little degraded by his occupation": and 'if-the player is a, "woman; "so much the worse. Study the faces at the cardtable_ m -your club, exclaims Mr -Aflalo. and if you are any judge of physiognomy you will see the status of the "men—but it is questionable whether most people would carry away the evident bad impressions of this gentleman. The good players, one would probably notice, were the smart, clever people who, after all, have not achieved the most in the world; ■ while men who play a part in the world will also be found at the eard-'tahle, but they are not sharpening their wits, they ase not' exhibiting brilliant play, but are ! merely indulging in change and relaxation. As to women, this critic is still mors severe. If you have any doubts on the subject of their intellectual" status, you are advised to take the bridge -woman of j the day in to dinner, and to take note of j her conversation:— I

'" Her simpering grandmother. who worked in coloured silks and hid her maiden.y blushes behind a shower of ringlets. was :■. Minerva" to her. The bridge girl wears, as ;! rule. neither ringlets nor !>:.u.s.ies. but is a hard-featured, ' calculat-

i"g, nervals, iif.jl-bitinir product of uliraemanehmion. ;i n <] her ' sreire-nu intelligence' « -n y.il probability on a level -with that: •>i t;ig rohl-pyed pltiythings that eat sweet-

meats in Eastern harems and peer oub on the world of freedom, through baned windows."'

This is certainly cynical. But indeed the bridge woman, as she is desciibed in current literature, will stand in a highly unfortunate position before posterity.- Her predecessors escaped much of the condemnation she receives.

' Dr Macnaniara, M.P., a high eduea|t "onal authority, diagnoses skill at cardpla ~' m S as consisting of a specially reten*j V g memory and a brain so constituted as lo'th 51 ™'* °* e exc^us ' on ot ; dl other subjects' b ut tne one nand - Aml nn individual mC y P?, sses9 qualities without being spk ,aU J intelligent. Of that there can be no do^ bt " x . ».notorious, indeed, that m ». hema-tical ability, the arithmetical faculty, ™ h r mus ,t P lll >" * great part at cards. - 1S often dissociated from talent of any oth'er Canning's notorious question, " D/d }' ou ev * r f kno £ a Senior Wrangler who j.' ot » f«ol? * considerably overshot, the mark, "irt "° was thinking of the men who -.make history by their eloquence, resolution, tr ch»' irac " ter, and in these lists, as he saw, flte naj». lo of the Senior Wrangler is not written'^

But it is for another reason that jngn of great abilities., as we have said, are seldom if ever great players in games of skill. Talleyrand, whose famous mot always recalls him to mind when the subject is discussed, is described by those who met him as quite an inferior artist at tha whist-table. Yet he had all the qualities to ensure a brilliant success. He was a successful manipulator on the Stock Exchange, an observant diplomat, a reticent counsellor. . If he had bestowed any great attention t>n the card-table- Tie must- have ■been a- In-illiant player. But to "excel in any competition ybu must " give your mind to it," as the saying goes; and the gieat mind will always seek great- things, and will not waste any considerable part of its powers in trifles. Be he philosopher, poet, or statesman, it will be found thatutility is the basis on which every great or solid man ever builds. He wishes to pleasc, to inform, to influence his fellowmen : and if he aspires only to rule over them, still the utilitarian basis is to be detected there. With the devotees of the card-table or the chess-board it is different. Their triumphs begin and end with themselves, and the great man demands a larg-er field. -They may sharpen their wits, as is claimed, but they dull the faculties which command success—which dcthemselves and the world substantial service. In the skill of the bridge woman we have no guarantee whatever that the lady could manage a household, and the championship at chess would not imply that the man could inn a. factory or ccnducf a bank or achieve any success in the world's great affaire. These a?e the people who fall behind in the iac£.