350 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



well as the unlucky. The winner continues to tempt 

 fortune, believing all the while that he is exerting 

 some special aptitude for games of chance, until the 

 inevitable change of luck arrives; and thereafter he 

 continues to play because he believes that his luck has 

 only deserted him for a time, and must presently return. 

 The unlucky gambler, on the contrary, regards his 

 losses as sacrifices to ensure the ultimate success of his 

 ' system,' and even when he has lost his all, continues 

 firm in the belief that had he had more money to 

 sacrifice he could have bound fortune to his side for 

 ever. 



I propose to consider some of the most common 

 gambling superstitions, noting, at the same time, that 

 like superstitions prevail respecting chance events (or 

 what is called fortune) even among those who never 

 gamble. 



Houdin, in his interesting book, Les Trickeries des 

 Grecs devoilees, has given some amusing instances of 

 the fruits of long gaming experience. ' They are pre- 

 sented,' says Steinmetz, from whose work, The Gaming 

 Table, I quote them c as the axioms of a professional 

 gambler and cheat.' Thus we might expect that, 

 however unsatisfactory to men of honest mind, they 

 would at least savour of a certain sort of wisdom. 

 Yet these axioms, the fruit of long study directed by 

 self-interest, are all utterly untrustworthy. 



* Every game of chance,' says this authority, ' pre- 

 sents two kinds of chances that are very distinct, 

 namely, those relating to the person interested, that is 



