354 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



and his faith in the turn of luck. When he is con- 

 sidering his own fortune he does not hesitate to believe 

 that on the whole the Fates will favour him, though 

 this belief implies in reality the persistence of favour- 

 able conditions. On the contrary, when he is considering 

 the fortunes of others who are successful in their play 

 against him, he does not doubt that their good luck 

 will presently desert them, that is, he believes in the 

 non-persistence of favourable conditions in their case. 



Taking in their order the gambling superstitions 

 which have been presented above, we have, first of all, 

 to inquire what truth there is in the idea that there 

 are limits beyond which pure chance has no power of 

 introducing peculiar combinations. Let us consider 

 this hypothesis in the light of actual experience. 

 Mr. Steinmetz tells us that, in 1813, a Mr. Ogden 

 wagered 1,000 guineas to one that c seven ' would not be 

 thrown with a pair of dice ten successive times. The 

 wager was accepted (though it was egregiously unfair), 

 and strange to say his opponent threw c seven ' nine 

 times running. At this point Mr. Ogden offered 470 

 guineas to be off the bet. But his opponent declined 

 (though the price offered was far beyond the real value 

 of his chance). He cast yet once more, and threw 

 * nine,' so that Mr. Ogden won his guinea. 



Now here we have an instance of a most remarkable 

 series of throws, the like of which has never been 

 recorded before or since. Before those throws had 

 been made, it might have been asserted that the 

 throwing of nine successive 'sevens' with a pair of 



