The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

PUTTING THESTONE. 3i rgans of speech but cannot speak, wouldbe a splendid orator f he could use his organs ofspeech. Feats that require on the art of the athlete the artof concentrating his strength suddenly n one particular point are of a higher class, asrequiring more ractice and intelligence than merely sustaining or lifting the neatest weight. We now proceed to describe in detail the arious events in a representative programme of Scottish sports, eginning with putting thestone, perhaps the most commonly ractised of all the feats, and an athletic exercise popular in Gotland for hundreds of years back, as the many traditionary ecords of famous puts by mythical and historical heroes abun- antly testify. In ancient times it was practised amongst the reeks and Romans sometimes with a round stone, oreven a ass of unwrought iron, but generally with a flat, roundpiece of metal called a discus, which, however, was thrown not putted. * t the present time putting the stone is practised amongst the mountaineers of the Balkan range and in Switzerland, particularly in the Appenzell. Scotland, however, may be said to be the headquarters of this feat, both asregards the numberof athletes vho practise it, and the perfection to which they have brought the Scottish style of putting. From Scotland, as headquarters, this feat has spread all over those parts of theworld where Scots­ men have settled. CHAPTER^II. PUTTING THE STONE. JN Scotlandthere are three distinctstyles ofputting practised at athletic meetings—the ordinary Scottish style, the Brae- mar style, and the Border style. In the first, which I call the Scottish style, as being by far the mostcommon, the competitors throw from behind a stance, which is sometimes the caber, but more generally a board, three to six feet long and six to nine