lf/2 ESSAY ON PROBABILITIES. 



largeness of the fund, then it is still more against A in 

 any given succession of games. The truth is, that to a 

 young man who is determined to gamble, whether at 

 one of the private receptacles in London, or the (till 

 lately) recognised saloons of Paris, it is of little con- 

 sequence whether his stakes be high or low, except in 

 this particular, that a longer process of ruination will 

 give him more chances of seeing his error. The play is 

 against him in both cases, and sooner or later he must 

 be ruined. Nor if his means be ever so great, could he 

 'make use of them, against the banks in Paris, at least. 

 Those who conducted the play at the Palais Royal 

 were perfectly aware of the necessity of not staking too 

 much, and limited not only the amount of each stake, 

 but also the number of persons whom they would en- 

 gage at once. The consequence was, that though they 

 played with perfect fairness (inasmuch as the inequality 

 which existed in their favour was known to, and recog- 

 nised by, their opponents), they gained large returns 

 upon their capital, besides paying a considerable duty 

 to the government. 



A gambler (meaning a bold venturer, which the term 

 commonly implies) ceases to be such when he makes 

 his stakes bear a proper proportion to his capital, and 

 takes no hazards which are unduly against him. If, 

 then, a government should attempt to discourage the 

 acquisition of great losses and gains, by limiting the 

 number of hazards which an individual should be allowed 

 to take, it might defeat its own object ; and this is the 

 case with our law, as it stands at present. In order to 

 prevent individuals from gambling in life-insurance, the 

 legislature has declared that A shall not insure the life 

 of B, unless he have what is called an insurable interest 

 in that life ; that is, unless A have some pecuniary in- 

 terest in B's continuing to live. The insurance offices, 

 for the most part, have virtually, and very wisely, 

 refused to live under this law, by paying all fair claims 

 without questions asked. But supposing that the law 

 were enforced, its effect would be as follows. It is 



