THERE seem to be some indications of diminished enthusiasm in Base-Ball, evinced by the lack of public attention to amateur playing, and the complaint we meet in our exchanges of the flagging interest in their colleges. The very perfection of base-ball has lost it many of its formerly devoted patrons. Years ago it was pleasant to play base-ball, when every one was sure of his two or three runs, and his three hours of fun; but the introduction of professional nines has reduced the game to a science, and made hard work out of exercise. Now a match is measured inversely as the score, and the good old "74 to 70 games" are out of the question. Cricket, on the other hand, is played much more than formerly. College papers speak of it with growing animation, and a new departure from our present favorite seems possible, if not desirable. We will not enter into the relative merits of the two games, but leave that for the zealous partisans that assert their game manifestly superior.

As far as Harvard is concerned, both interests are active, with the majority in favor of base-ball. The Freshman class is especially fortunate in possessing "many men of many minds," and has proved a flourishing training-school for almost every arena where the honor of Harvard is at stake. It seems probable that the European trip of the two most prominent base-ball clubs in the country will be a new era in the history of the game. Before long novelty-loving Americans will patronize cricket, a game of much more real enjoyment than they now are willing to acknowledge. The advantages of the Rugby foot-ball game were seen in the three exciting half-hours of Friday last, and we may do well to instruct our foreign cousins in playing their own game, and then try playing it ourselves.