In no branch of athletics have practice and cultivation led to such an extraordinary improvement as in high and broad jumping. At the first Oxford and Cambridge meeting in 1864, the High Jump was won with 5 ft. 6 in., the Long Jump with 18 ft., and even at the present day foreigners hear with incredulity that men can jump more than 6 ft. in height, and clear more than 23 ft. on the flat. The improvement is perhaps more marked in long jumping than in high jumping, but even in the latter, careful training and assiduous practice has shown that the human body is capable of greater feats than were thought possible before jumping became an organised sport. Probably 'Christopher North' would have found it as hard to believe that M. J. Brooks jumped 6 ft. 2 1/2 in. high in 1876, as did Donald Dinnie, the Scotch 'professional,' who, on seeing an account of Brooks' jump, promptly wrote to the papers to show that, upon a priori grounds, such a feat was impossible. Perhaps nothing is so pretty and interesting as a High Jump, and a light-weight jumper who leaps straight over his obstacle and alights on the balls of his feet is almost certain to be graceful in his movements.

Still there are a variety of different styles of high-jumping, and some successful performers get over the bar sideways with a crab-like motion which is more effective than beautiful. The muscles used for the spring are those in front of the thigh which pass down to the knee-cap. The knee is bent when preparing for the spring, the muscles are contracted, and from the sudden and violent straightening of the leg with a jerk, the impetus is given. A high-jumper, therefore, must have these muscles not only strong but naturally springy and elastic, and from this it follows that in a certain sense the high-jumper, like the sprinter, is born, not made; fot though muscles can be hardened and strengthened by practice, nothing but nature can make them elastic. As a matter of fact the high-jumper is nearly always short-thighed, with a well-shaped knee, a rather long leg from knee to ankle, and with an ankle, like the knee, cleanly and delicately shaped.

It is always said, and with some show of truth, that a high-jumper is fanciful and uncertain. The reason is easy to see, for not only will a touch of cold or stiffness in the joints spoil a man's form, but the greatest possible difference is made by inability to take off at exactly the right distance from the bar. Thus, if the 'take off is a little up-hill, a little down-hill, or so slippery as to make the jumper nervous of falling, he may rise from the wrong place, and jump into the bar instead of over it. It is sometimes amusing to act as judge in a high-jumping contest. One man wants to jump with the sun on his right, another with the sun on his left, one likes to alight upon the mattress which is always kept for the purpose, another is 'put off if he sees the mattress in front of him; another sticks a bit of paper into the ground to guide him as to his take-off, while yet another hangs a blue handkerchief on the bar to show him where he is to jump to. To all this a courteous judge can raise no reasonable objection, but the competition in consequence becomes unduly prolonged and wearisome to the public, as each competitor has three tries at each height, and the mattress, handkerchief, and paper have to be shifted about at each jump.

Luckily, even the most obliging officials cannot be asked to put a curtain over the sun for the jumpers' convenience.

The jumper has to get himself fit in the same way as the sprinter. He must become strong, light, and hardy without becoming stiff. As a bye-play, then, he will do no harm if he indulges in a bit of sprinting and takes exercise canters, being careful to keep upon his toes; and the more he avails himself of the services of a rubber the better. For his main practice he must jump over the bar daily, being cautious not to overdo himself any day, and if he be wise he should learn to take off both against the wind and with it and under all sorts of atmospheric conditions, as he will then be less likely to be 'put off' when he appears upon a strange ground to take part in a competition.

Of late years it has been the practice to put the posts upon the cinder-path or to have a 'take off' of cinders for the jumpers. Some of the performers, however, prefer taking off from grass under any circumstances, and no doubt they are right in thinking that good dry springy turf is better than cinders. At the same time we have plenty of rain in England; the grass is sometimes too slippery for fair jumping, and in such a state that even a sprinkling of cinders or sawdust is insufficient to get it into condition. The managers of a meeting should be careful, if they intend their jumps to be upon the grass, to cover up their 'take off' for a day or two beforehand. At the same time the jumper will be wise if he can get the opportunity to practise both upon cinders and turf, and he will thus be prepared for all emergencies.

The usual practice in competition is for the bar to be raised one inch each time, and not more, when the jumpers are beginning to approach the end of their tether; but they are usually given a few jumps at lower heights to start with to get their legs into form. In the championship the bar is usually placed at first at 5 ft., then raised to 5 ft. 2 in., then to 5 ft. 4 in., and then to 5 ft. 6. in. if all the competitors agree, but if any object, after 5 ft. 4 in. the bar is raised an inch each time.

Although the jumping was very poor at the first two Inter-'Varsity competitions, the first championship meeting in 1866 brought out two fine performers, both Cantabs, T. G. Little and J. H. T. Roupell, who tied at 5 ft. 9 in., a height which remained the ' record ' for the next five years. In the next year Little again won the championship with a tie, his partner on this occasion being another Cantab, C. E. Green. In 1868, however, the 'Varsity men were no longer in sole possession of the field, for in this year that wonderful athlete R. J. C. Mitchell, of Manchester, made his first appearance on the scene in London, winning the high jump with 5 ft. 8 in., the long jump with 19 ft. 8 1/2 in., and the pole jump with 10 ft. 6 1/2 in. Two years later Mitchell won all these three events again with the weight-putting into the bargain, and in 1871 he again was champion in these four competitions, his high jump on this occasion being 5 ft. 9 1/2 in., half an inch better than the old record. Mitchell's performances in 1871 certainly show him to have been a fine all-round athlete, his high jump being, as we have said, 5 ft. 9 1/2 in., his long jump (in which he tied with E. J. Davies) 20 ft. 4 in., his pole jump 10 ft., and his weight-putting 38 ft. 8 1/2 in.