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Descent into chess
A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this ? It may be asked. We answer, chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises - not this sort of mental gladiatorship.


I couldn't have put it better myself
Andreas

hey!
i resemble those remarks.

living in a dream world regards,

mike

skoony wrote:hey!
i resemble those remarks.

living in a dream world regards,

mike

That's for suree.

How can one quit chess without the mine going
haywire.

Priceless. BTW do you have a link?

It doesn't seem that the Scientific American has much influence on the American society.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -baseballs

(scroll down for the July 1859 entry)

I found the original page in an online library of old magazines:

http://tinyurl.com/m3uztv

Apparently, these were considerations connected to the return of Paul Morphy to the USA just at that time, after his famous chess triumphs in Europe.

P.S. I didn't know that this magazine is that old! Founded 1845.

I just copied it manually from the magazine, but Mike Scheidl managed to dig up a link to the original article - see his post.

Regards
Andreas

Wonderful that you managed to dig up the full article. Fun to read.

Thanks
Andreas