362 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



gaming bankers is true, and that the chances are but 

 from 1J to 2J per cent, in their favour. Yet in the 

 long run, this percentage must manifest its effects. 

 Where a few hundreds have been wagered the bank 

 may not win 1 or 2J on each, or may lose considerably; 

 but where thousands of hundreds are wagered, the bank 

 will certainly win about their percentage, and the players 

 will therefore lose to a corresponding extent. This is 

 inevitable, so only that the play continue long enough. 

 Now, it is sometimes forgotten that to ensure such gain 

 to the bank, it is by no means necessary that the players 

 should come prepared to stake so many hundreds of 

 pounds. Those who sit down to play may not have a 

 tithe of the sum necessary if only wagered once to 

 ensure the success of the bank. But every florin the 

 players bring with them may be, and commonly is, 

 wagered over and over again. There is repeated gain 

 and loss, and loss and gain ; insomuch that the player 

 who finally loses a hundred pounds, may have wagered 

 in the course of the sitting a thousand or even many 

 thousand pounds. Those fortunate beings who ' break 

 the bank ' from time to time, may even have accom- 

 plished the feat of wagering millions during the process 

 which ends in the final loss of the few thousands they 

 may have begun with. 



Why is it, then, it will be asked, that this inexorable 

 law is yet not to be trusted? For this reason, simply, 

 that the mode of its operation is altogether uncertain. 

 If in a thousand trials there has been a remarkable 

 preponderance of any particular class of events, it is 



