310 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



three in all ; that of the third, to the chance of drawing 

 a ball out of a bag in which are four black balls and 

 one white one, Jive in all. We take, then, the least 

 number containing both five and three that is, fif- 

 teen; and then the number of white balls, correspond- 

 ing to the chances of the three horses, are respectively 

 six, five, and three, or fourteen in all ; leaving only one 

 to represent the chance of the fourth horse (against 

 which the odds are, therefore, 14 to 1). Hence the 

 chances of the four horses are respectively as the num- 

 bers six,, five, three, and one. 



We have spoken above of the published odds. The 

 statements made in the daily papers commonly refer 

 to wagers actually made, and therefore the uninitiated 

 might suppose that every one who tried would be able 

 to obtain the same odds. This is not the case. The 

 wagers which are laid between practised betting-men 

 afford very little indication of the prices which would 

 be forced (so to speak) upon an inexperienced bettor. 

 Book-makers that is, men who make a series of bets 

 upon several or all of the horses engaged in a race 

 naturally seek to give less favorable terms than the 

 known chances of the different horses engaged would 

 suffice to warrant. As they cannot offer such terms to 

 the initiated, they offer them and in general success- 

 fully to the inexperienced. 



It is often said that a man may so lay his wagers 

 about a race as to make sure of gaining money which- 



