An Alleged Billiard Impossibility

Here is (says The Modern Man) what is said to be the
only impossible shot on the billiard table.

Place the red ball on the centre spot. Then place the
cue ball anywhere in a dead line between the red ball and
the middle of the centre pocket.

Now place the other white ball in a line with, and a
ball’s width from, the red ball. That is, the white ball is
either just above or just below the red ball, so that a cannon
is the simplest thing in the world.

If you have got the balls rightly placed, it is easy to pot
the red, and it is dead easy to make a cannon.

But to pot the red and cannon is an impossibility.

[We have not a billiard table anywhere on us just for the
moment, but we should doubt the impossibility of this
stroke, which we should say is to be done with central aiming
and gentle side.]