KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Junk 2, 



Of course, you need not search about for those who favour 

 any given horse. Every greenhorn has a fancy for some 

 horse, and is willing to take something short of the current 

 odds for the pri\-iloge of backing him. You can, therefore, 

 till in j'our book pro re imfij, until at least you have made 

 up your amounts for most of the horses engaged, when you 

 will, of course, give more special attention to those whose 

 loaf in your book is as yet incomplete. 



Now let us take an illustrative case to see how this 

 system works :— 



Suppose there are nine horses in the race, to wit — A, 

 n, C, D, E, F, G, H, and K. Let the odds be— 



3 to 1 against A 



5 to 1 „ B 



7tol „ C 



9 to 1 „ I) 



11 to 1 „ E 

 lltol „ F 

 lltol „ G 

 19 to 1 „ U 

 23 to 1 „ K 

 You should be careful to note that when these odds arc 

 reduced to chances, becoming respectively 



their sum should be unity, or very near it. It does not 

 matter at all — except to backers — if the sum is greater 

 tlian unity, as it generally is, but if it should be less than 

 unity, the e.xact application of the system would invoho 

 loss to you and gain to the backers, which is not your 

 object) 



Well, then, you may let the wagers on each horso 

 amount to £1,000 (or, for convenience, and to avoid frac- 

 tions, say £l,-200), if the race is important, and bets much 

 ill recjuest ; but the system, in its beautiful adaptibility, 

 may be applied to .shillings quite as well as to pounds. 



Apart from the c.\.tra points you allow yourself, you 

 ought to lay, in all — 



£900 to £300 against A 



£1,000 to £:i00 „ B 



.i:l,<50to£l50 „ C 



tl.OSOto£120 „ D 



£1,0S0to,C120 „ E 



i-l,100to £100 „ V 



£1.100 to £100 „ r; 



£1,140 to £G0 „ II 

 £1,150 to £50 „ l-C 



But you rea-son (with intending backers) that "the race is 

 a moral certainty for A., and that it is giving away 

 money " to lay more than (in all) ,£800 to ,£:500, Again, 

 " li. is a much better horso than people think, so that £900 

 to £200 is quite long enough odds again,st him' ; " as for 

 C, "no wonder backers stand by him at the odds;" for 

 your part you "think him better than B, ; and see what 

 Augur says of him ! " and ,so forth, wlierefore you cannot 

 lind it in conscience to lay more than £9.")0 to £1.50 (in 

 all) again.st hira, (It gets easier as you reach the non- 

 fa%-ouritcs to get the odds shortened.) So you deal with 

 each, cutting off £100 (let us say); but with the horses 

 low in favour, you can easily cut off more, and the system 

 not only does not forbid this, but encourages it. Say, 

 however, only .£100, and then your book is complete. 



You can now watch the race (if you like) with thorough 

 enjoyment The pleasure of the backers of the favour- 

 ites w a good deal impaired by anxiety, and though backers 

 of non-favourites Iiave less tf) lose, they have more to gain 

 and less chance of gaining it : so they too are anxious. 

 But you can take a real scientific interest in the race. 

 Vou may, if you please, try to recognise Muyliridge's 

 •' Attitudes of the Galloping Horse," as the fleet steeds rush 

 past your post of observation. 



For, let the race go as it may, you clear ,£ 1 00. If A 

 wins, you pay his backers willingly £800, receiving £200 

 from the backers of B, .£150 from those of 0, and so on — 

 in all, £900. If B wins, you pay his backers £900, and 

 receive from the backers of A, C, D, itc, £1,000, and so 

 on, whichever horse may win. You need not, as a rule, 

 be afraid about being paid ; these are debts of honour, 

 and to be paid therefore before all sordid trade debts — 

 nay, so sacred are these debts, that many of your clients 

 would deem it better to break open a till, or to embezzle a 

 round sum from an employer, than to leave them unpaid. 

 So that you need be under no anxiety. 



It occurs to me that some of my betting readers may 

 say. We have not time for this ; we do not want to be 

 bookmakers, but to make our occasional wagers on safe 

 lines, as t/n'i/ do their systematic ones. In that case, you 

 might back each horse in the race once, so that the total 

 wagered about him by you and the bookmakers may be a 

 fixed Kiini, less whatever you can get off the market odds. 

 l''()rinst.iiicc, say the sum is to be £120, in the case of each 

 lior.se in the above list ; then you should back A at the 

 odds of £90 to whatever sum less than £30 a bookmaker 

 will take. Suppose (I cannot suppose it myself, but you 

 may) he will give you £90 to £29 ; and that you can 

 arrange similarly for each horse of the nine, offering to 

 l)ack him for a sum always £1 short of the true amount 

 at the odds. Then you will gain £1, however the race 

 may end. It is not much, — but I wish you may get it 



It is easier to tell you how to lose. This may bo effected 

 by adopting (lie ol/ifr j^rt of the bookmaker's system. He, 

 always lays the odds a little short : do you always take 

 them so. Back the favourite boldly ; l)ut do not fail to 

 take fancies for non-favourites, and liack your fancies boldly 

 too. It would be absurd to haggle about odds in the case 

 of a horse which is morally sure to win, or to insist on ten 

 to one when you feel sure the odds are not seven to one 

 against a horse. When you win, assure yourself you are 

 "in the vein," and go on betting ; if you lose, assure your- 

 self " the luck mu.st change," and go on betting. By con- 

 tinuing patiently on this course, it will bo strange if you 

 do not learn before long — how it is that the bookmakers 

 make so much money. 



Let mo, in conclusion, quote two short passages, one 

 from a letter by Charles Dickens, the otlier from a speech 

 by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, The lirst seems to relate 

 to the successful book-maker — " I look at the back of his 

 b.ad head repeated in long lines on the racecourse, and iu 

 the lietting stand, and outside the betting rooms, and I vow 

 to God I can see nothing in it but cruelty, covetousness, 



calculation, insensibility, and low wickedness 



If a boy with any good in him, but with a dawning pro- 

 pensity to sporting and betting, were but brought here 

 soon enough, it would cure him." The other passage 

 applies to the bookmaker and his victim alike — "the per- 

 nicious and fatal habit " of betting "is so demoralising and 

 degrading, that, like some foul leprosy, it will eat away the 

 conscience until a man comes to think that it is his duty to 

 himself to " do his neighbour as his neighbour would do " 

 him. 



FOUND LINKS. 



By Dr. Anbrew Wilson, F.R.S.b:., F.L.S. 

 PART VII, 



A CORRESPONDENT, " J, Fisher, M,D.," in a letter 

 addressed to the Editor of Knowledok, remarks 

 that the names " Quadrupeds " and " Mammals," used Ijy 

 me as synonymous terms, and, I may add, in strict 



