[219.] A certain gentleman, who was employed in one of our city offices, purchased The Doctrine of Chance, which he studied in his spare time, with the result that he sent in his resignation to the head of the firm in order to try his luck on the racecourse.
At the first meeting he attended, there were only three horses in a race. His brother bookmakers were crying out the odds—
“Two to 1 bar one.”
The odds on this latter horse which was “barred” he discovered to be 6 to 4 on. He determined to give far more liberal odds, and called out—
“Even money, 2 to 1, and 3 to 1.”
How could he give such odds, and yet win £1, no matter which horse wins the race?
AN INCH OF RAIN.
How many people really consider what is contained in the expression? Calculated, it amounts to this:—An acre is equal to 6,272,640 square inches; an inch deep of water on this area will be as many cubic inches of water, which, at 277·274 inches to the gallon, is 22622·5 gallons. The quantity weighs 226,225 lbs. Thus, an “inch of rain” is over 100 tons of water to the acre.