160 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[May 2, 1887. 



can love and reverence a man whose name was dark- 

 ened by an accusation never wholly disproved. I know 

 not by what right a charge not wholly disproved can 

 be urged against a man's memory as though it were an 

 accusation fullv proved. Even had the charge been proved, 

 however, it would have been one involving no such deli- 

 berate iniquity, and suggesting no such innate depravity, as 

 average minds find in the conduct of one who (we are told, 

 and many believe) was loved above all other men by God. 

 If God could condone David's greater guilt of kindred 

 nature, covered (to men's eyes) by deliberatelj' planned 

 murder, men may surely forgive the lesser offence, which 

 for the moment is assumed to have been committed by 

 Beecher. But it is worthy of careful consideration that while 

 doubtless many thousands in America believe that Beecher 

 was guilty in that matter, the proportion of those who 

 utterly reject such belief is found to be gi'eater the nearer 

 we approach the centre of his ministry. At that centre all 

 believed and believe in bis innocence, seeing only the plots 

 of enemies in the attack upon his character. 



THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY. 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



HE greed for chance-won wealth is so great 

 among men of weak minds, and they are 

 so large a majority of all communities, that 

 the bait may be dangled for them without 

 care to conceal the hook. In all lotteries 

 and gambling systems which have yet been 

 known the hook has been patent, and the 

 evil it must do if swallow ed should have been obvious. Yet 

 it has been swallowed greedily. 



A most remarkable illusti-.ition of the folly of those who 

 trust in luck, and the cool audacity of those who trust 

 in such folly (with more reason but with more rascality) 

 is presented by the Louisiana Lottery in America. This is 

 the only lottery of the kind now permitted in America. 

 Indeed, it is nominally restricted to the State of Louisiana ; 

 but practically the whole country takes part in it, tickets 

 being obtainable by residents in every State of the Union. 

 The peculiarity of the lottery is the calm admission, in all 

 advertisements, that it is a yross and unmitifjated swindle. 

 The advertisements announce that each month 100,000 

 tickets will be sold, each at five dollara, shares of one-fifth 

 being purchasable at one dollar. Two commissioners- 

 Generals Early and Beauregard — control the drawings ; so 

 that — we are told, and may well believe — the drawings are 

 conducted with fairness and honesty, and in good faith to 

 all parties. So far all is well. "We see that each month, if 

 all the tickets are sold, the sum of 500,000 dols. will be paid 

 in. From this monthly payment we must deduct 1.(100 dols. 

 paid to each of the commissioners, and perhaps some 

 3,000 dols., at the outside, foi' advertising. We may add 

 another .sum of .5,000 dols. for incidental expenses, machinery, 

 sums paid to agents as commission on the sale of tickets, and 

 so forth. This leaves 490,000 dols. monthly if all the tickets 

 are sold. And as the lottery is " incorporated by the State 

 Legislature of Louisiana for charitable and educational pur- 

 poses," we may suppose that a certain portion of the sum 

 paid in monthly will be set aside to represent the proceeds 

 of the concern, and justify the use of so degrading a method 

 of obtaining money. Probably it might be supposed that 

 21 per cent, per annum, or i per cent, per month, would be 

 a fair retiu'n in this way, the system being entirely free from 

 risk. This would amount to 9,800 dols., or say 10,000 dols., 

 monthly. Those who manage the lottery are not content. 



however, with any such sum as this, which would leave 

 480,000 dols. to be distributed in prizes. They distribute 

 215,000 dols. less, the total amount given in prizes amount- 

 ing to only 265,000 dols. If the 100,000 tickets are all 

 sold — and it is said that few are ever left — the monthly pro- 

 fit on the transaction is not less than 225,000 dols., or 45 

 per cent, on the total amount received per month. This 

 would correspond to 540 per cent, per annum if it were paid 

 on a capital of 500,000 dols. But in reality it amounts to 

 much more, as the lottery company runs no risk whatsoever. 

 As I pointed out recently, in the Xeircastle Weekli/ Chronicle, 

 the Louisiana Lottery is a gross swindle, besides being dis- 

 reputable in the sense in which all lotteries are so. What 

 would be thought if a man held an open lottery, to which 

 each of one hundred persons admitted paid 5/., and taking 

 the sum of ."iOO/. thus collected, were to say : " The lottery, 

 gentlemen gamblers, will now proceed ; 265Z. of the sum 

 before me 1 will distribute in prizes, as follows " (indicating 

 the number of prizes and their several amounts) ; " the rest, 

 this sum of 235?., which I have here separated, I will put 

 into my own pocket " (suiting the action to the word) " for 

 my trouble and expenses in getting up this lottery." The 

 Louisiana Lottery is a ti-ansaction of the same rascally type 

 — not rendered more respectable by being on a very much 

 larger scale. 



If the spirit of rash speculation will let men submit to 

 swindling so gro.-JS as this, we can scarcely see any limit to its 

 operation. Yet hundreds of thousands yield to the temptation 

 thus offered, to gain suddenly a large sum, at the expense of 

 a small sum almo.st certainly lost, and partly stolen. 



THE NATURALIST'S LABORATORY. 



CONTRIBUTION VII. 

 Labobatobt Furniture — (conchided). 



HE student's workshop cannot be regarded as 

 even fairly well equipped unless adequate 

 provision is made for the convenient storage 

 of specimens, the reception of books and 

 instruments, and the temporarj' sheltering 

 of work in course of progression. Cabinets, 

 cases, and boxes, to meet each special want, 

 are thus found necessary, and it is therefore incumbent on 

 us to point out or describe the forms of the articles best 

 suited to the naturalist's requirements. 



The old-fashioned cabinets replete with drawers, and 

 trays within the latter, can scarcely be improved upon for 

 holding geological or dry biological specimens. Each 

 drawer can he numbered and indexed with a list of its 

 contents, and when the trays are removed and placed upon 

 a table they show at a glance the various objects, which 

 may be displayed with as much effect as in the wall cases of 

 a public museum. Such cabinets ought to form the basal 

 moiety of the storage area, as shown bj' the accompanying 

 sketch, fig. 1. The upper portion of the case may con- 

 veniently be reserved for holding cases of instruments, such 

 as dissecting tools, microscopes, kc, in a large box made to 

 stand upon the top of the chest of drawers, and provided 

 with a hinged lid to open upwards, as shown in the side 

 plan, fig. 1, « ; the dotted line shows the position of the 

 opened lid. Upon the top of this instrument case there 

 should be piled a series of narrow boxes, c, fig. 1, each one 

 of which should be faced with a glass door hinged to its 

 upper edge, and made to open outwards and upwards, as 

 indicated by the dotted lines hhb, in the side plan (fig. 1). 

 These boxes will be found invaluable for the permanent 



