Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/785

EUCHRE EUCHRE, a game of cards, usually played by two or four persons with a pack from which all the cards from 2 to 6 inclusive have been withdrawn. Before commencing the game, the players draw for the deal, which belongs to him who first draws a knave. The pack having been cut by his opponent, or, in four- handed euchre, by his right-hand adversary, the dealer distributes five cards to each player, including himself, commencing at his left, and giving first two and then three, and turns up the llth card (in four-handed euchre the 21st). The cards have the same relative value as in whist, except that the knave of trumps, called the right bower, is the highest card in the pack, and the other knave of the same color, called the left bower, the next highest ; after which come ace, king, &c. Players must in all cases follow suit, and the left bower is in- variably to be considered a trump. The game consists of five points. The deal having been completed, the elder hand has the privilege of deciding whether the suit turned up shall be trumps. If he desires to retain it as such, he "orders up" the trump card, in which case the dealer rejects a card from his hand and takes that which he has turned up. In that case, however, the elder hand must take three tricks, constituting a point, or he is, techni- cally speaking, " euchred ;" that is, his adver- sary is entitled to score two points. If, on the other hand, he does not choose to order up the card, he says, "I pass," and the same privilege, with similar conditions, belongs to the next player, and so on. When all the players, including the dealer, have passed, the latter turns down the card, and the elder hand has the privilege of designating the suit which shall be trumps, which must however be an- other than that previously turned up. If he names a trump, he must score his point or be euchred; and if he is unwilling to take the risk, he passes again. "When all the players have passed for the second time, they throw up their cards, and the elder hand succeeds to the deal. A player making all five tricks makes what is called a "march," and is enti- tled to score two ; taking either three or four tricks, he scores but one. In four-handed euchre, in which the players sitting opposite to each other are partners, as in whist, a player having good cards will sometimes de- sire to "play the hand alone," without the as- sistance of his partner. If under these circum- stances he makes a march, he scores four points ; but if euchred, his adversaries score two. The game has been recently modified by the ad- dition of a blank card, called "the yerker" or " little joker," which is the highest in the pack. The game is sometimes played by three persons, in which case any two will combine against the third who may have " taken up " the hand; if they succeed in euchring him, each of them scores two points. This is sometimes called "the cutthroat game," since either of the three players is at any time liable EUCLID 769 to be opposed by the other two. The game of euchre is peculiar to the United States, where it is a universal favorite, being preferred by many to whist. Its origin is not known with certainty, but it is supposed to have been invented in Pennsylvania. It has been recent- ly introduced into England. EUCLID (Gr. Eu/cM%), the most celebrated of ancient geometers, flourished at Alexan- dria in the reign of the first Ptolemy, about 300 B. C. The Arabic historians give many unauthenticated particulars of his life ; but it is only certain that he dwelt first in Greece and then in Egypt; and it is probable that he studied at Athens under the successors of Plato, and afterward passed over to Alexandria. There he founded the mathematical school, and was remarkable for his zeal in science, his affection for learned men, and his gentle and modest deportment. Ptolemy having asked him if geometry could not be made easier, he made the celebrated answer that there was no royal road to geometry. To appreciate the merit of Euclid, the state of geometry before him should be considered. Proclus gives the improbable legend that the Egyptians were obliged to invent geometry in order to find again the boundaries of their fields, effaced by the inundations of the Nile. Thence it was brought to Greece by Thales, but it was first raised to a liberal science, and applied to the solution of speculative and theoretical prob- lems, by Pythagoras. Hippocrates was the first to write on elements. Plato, without writing particularly upon geometry, contrib- uted much to its progress by his use of the an- alytic method, and by the mathematical style of his books ; and new theorems were added by numerous lesser philosophers. At the ad- vent of Euclid something had been written on proportion, incommensurables, loci, solids, and perhaps conic sections ; and the important property of the right-angled triangle had been discovered. It was the glory of Euclid to unite in a single book all the discoveries of his predecessors, and to add several new ones of his own. He surpassed all other geometers of antiquity in the clear exposition of his the- orems and the rigid order of his demonstra- tions. The " Elements " of Euclid belong both to geometry and arithmetic. They consist of 13 books written by Euclid, and two others written probably by Hypsicles ; and they may be divided into four parts, of which the first, comprising the first six books, treats of the properties of plane figures, and presents the theory of proportions; the second gives, in the three following books, the general proper- ties of numbers; the third, consisting of the tenth book, is the development of all the power of the preceding ones, and is occupied with a curious and profound theory of incommensura- ble quantities; and the remaining books are on the elements of solid geometry, and were so much studied among the Platonists as to re- ceive the name of the Platonic. The best