SECT. 2.] Insurance and Gambling. 371 



clothing. With respect to them, famine and scarcity are by 

 comparison almost unknown now, at any rate in tolerably 

 civilized communities. As a consequence of this, and of the 

 vast improvements in the means of transporting goods and 

 conveying intelligence, the fluctuations in the price of such 

 articles are much less than they once were. In other direc 

 tions, however, the reverse has been the case. Fashion, for 

 instance, now induces so many people in every large com 

 munity simultaneously to desire the same thing, that great 

 fluctuations in value may ensue. Moreover a whole group of 

 causes (to enter upon any discussion of which would be to 

 trench upon the ground of Political Economy) combine to 

 produce great and frequent variations in matters concerning 

 credit and the currency, which formerly had no existence. 

 Bankruptcy, for instance, is from the nature of the case, 

 almost wholly a creation of modern times. We will not at 

 tempt to strike any balance between these opposite results 

 of modern civilization, beyond remarking that in matters of 

 prime importance the actual uncertainties have been pro 

 bably on the whole diminished, whereas in those which affect 

 the pocket rather than the life, they have been rather in 

 creased. It might also be argued with some plausibility 

 that in cases where the actual uncertainties have not become 

 greater, they have for all practical purposes done so, by their 

 consequences frequently becoming more serious, or by our 

 estimate of these consequences becoming higher. 



2. However the above question, as to the ultimate 

 balance of gain or loss, should be decided, there can be no 

 doubt that many persons find the present amount of uncer 

 tainty in some of the affairs of life greater than suits their 

 taste. How are they to diminish it ? Something of course 

 may be done, as regards the individual cases, by prudence 

 and foresight. Our houses may be built with a view not to 



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