MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 305 



of many a speculator. The gaming banks have dis- 

 covered the secret, which is simply to embark consider- 

 able capital, and to play with chances unequally in 

 their favour. To produce in the young mind a con- 

 viction that events will happen,, in the long run, in a 

 fixed, and not in what is called a fortuitous manner, 

 should be an object of education, in order to produce 

 that soundness of views on the results of gambling 

 which is a sure protection against the temptation. By 

 trying experiments upon what are called chance events, 

 such as might easily be done with a pack of cards, or 

 a few dice, it might easily be made to appear that no 

 large number of events will present any marked devi- 

 ations from the general average which the knowledge 

 of this theory points out before-hand. Persons aware 

 of the truth of the law just stated, may often be able 

 to apply it advantageously. I received the following 

 anecdote from a distinguished naval officer, who was 

 once employed to bring home a cargo of dollars. At 

 the end of the voyage it was discovered that one of the 

 boxes which contained them had been forced ; and on 

 making further search, a large bag of dollars was dis- 

 covered in the possession of some one on board. The 

 coins in the different boxes were a mixture of all man- 

 ner of dates and sovereigns ; and it occurred to the 

 commander, that if the contents of the boxes were 

 sorted, a comparison of the proportions of the different 

 sorts in the bag with those in the box which had been 

 opened, would be strong presumptive evidence one way 

 or the other. This comparison was accordingly made, 

 and the agreement between the distribution of the se- 

 veral coins in the bag and those in the box, was such 

 as to leave no doubt as to the former having formed a 

 part of the latter. 



