New-York tribune., 1919-06-22

"EW human speeulations, In
II all the history Of thought,
have exceeded in interest
those which concern them
.e}yes with the element Of chance in
our lives. Whole systems have been
evolved with Chance as the basic
nrinciple; and while it can hardly
be professed that our fundamental
knowledge On the subject has even
infnitesimally increased, after CEN
turies Of investigation, the lure re-
mains. We are still concerned with
Chance. We still breathlessly ask
Is Chance a force which can some
how be eorralled and turned to def
nite human uses? Can we force
Chance to serve our ends, work for
Us?
Perhaps no more fascinating con-
sideration of the subject has ever
been published than that which ap-
pears in 1The Fortnightly Review"
cver the signature Of Maurice Mae
terfinck. "Of Gambling" he calls
his essay; and it ponders the mys-
terious fluctuations Of fortune which
those encounter who flock to Monte
Carlo Here, for more than fifty
years, he tells us, "1nen have obsi-
nately forced the birth Of unnatural
Chance and doggedly consulted the
formless and featureless god that
shrouds good luck and Ill within his
shadow.
Certainly" he writes
at these tables. as at all places where
| mems passions are vibrant, we are able
to make interesting observations and,
among other things, to behold at first
hand, violently foreshortened and
hsrshly illuminated, certain aspects of
mans lifelong struggle with the up<
known The drama, which as a rule is
long drawn out, projecting itself into
space and time and breaking up amid
orcunztances that escape our eyes, is
here INIT together, gathered into a ball,
held, 50 to speak, in the hollow of the
hand. But for all its speed. its
ahruptness of movement and its ex-
tune compression, it remains as COM
piex and mysterious as those which
80 on Indefinitely. Until the ivory ball
that rolls and hops around the wheel
falls INTO its red or black compart-
nent, the unknown which wells it's
choice or its destiny is as impenetrable
a. that which hides from us the
choice or the destiny of the stars. The
movements Of the planets can be cal
eulated almost to q second; but no
Mathematical operation can measure or
predict the course of the little white
4 ball
Your more skilful players, indeed,
ns7e given up trying. Not one of
them any longer relies seriously On
msuiton, presentiment, second sight,
telepathy, psychic forces, or the calcu-
sNon OF probabilities in the attempt
70 foresee or determine the fall of q
destiny no larger than a hazel nut. Or
osssd science has failed in this; and
tae whole occult and magical side Of
human knowledge has failed likewise.
Inc nsthematicians, the prophets, the
seers, the sorcerers, the mediums, the
psychometrists, the spiritualists en-
eo"ed with psychic receptivity who call
upon the dead for assistance, all alike
are blind, confounded and impotent be-
lore the wheel and before Destiny's
ta'ssS-seven compartments. Here
1nanee reigns supreme; ard hitherto,
nough it all happens before our eyes,
meugh 1t is ever repeated to safety
ND may be held, let me say once more,
ne hollow oil our hand, no one has
Msbeen able to determine a single
@s cf its laws"
II
IH such laws seem to exist; and
thousands of players have
sned themselves in following their
lefas or their elusive and decep-
as traces. "Let u.s." he says, "take
eundie Of those records or per-
Asaenees, published at Monte Carlo,
,aen give day by day the list Of
y the numbers that have come up
" one OF the roulette or trente~et-
afaate tables. AS everybody
s, these numbers are arranged
ong parallel columns. the black
me lett and the red on the right.
"esn we look at one of these
s, ccntainiag as a rule ten coll
y sixt7-fye numbers each--dead
asrmiess ciphers now, though
70 dangerous, once destructive Of
AMY hopes and perhaps inspiring
snan one disaster--we observe a
toward perceptiHle eqyi-
between the red ard the black.
pllen the two chances balance
"a ssaer. sinzly or in little groups,
red, two blacks. three reds,
-. .e'acks, two reds. and 30 on.
sn ws come upon a series Of
ssSsn, eight, aometimes eight,
Nn, eleven. twelve consecutive
ASs Il