PHILOSOPHICAL AMUSEMENTS. PAPER IV. that the ace is to be counted for 11 points, the court cards for 10, and the other cards according to the points they A curious and agreeable wager, which you mark. are fure of winning. ADDRESS fome perfon in the company, and fay, Madam, or Sir, have you a watch, a ring, or etwee, or any other trinket? Begin by examining what has been given you, in order to form an idea of its value, fince you are to lay your bet confiderably under the intrinfic value of the trinket, to avoid being duped. Suppose what has been offered to you is a watch, you are to propofe a guinea as a wager against it; faying to the lady or gentleman, I lay you a guinea that you do not fay three times, My watch: when it is put on the table, and your wager is accepted, ask the perfon, prefenting him his watch, what is that? he will not fail to answer, it is my watch. Prefent him afterwards another object, making him the fame question: fuppofe the object you prefent to be a pen, a piece of paper, or any other thing. If the perfon names the object you prefent, he has loft; if, on the contrary, he is on his guard, and anfwers my watch, you must then say, Sir, I fee very well I have loft; for if you fay once more, my watch, you muft certainly win; but if I lofe what will you give me the perfon being always on his guard, will anfwer again, my watch then appealing to his own words, you will take the watch and leave him the stake. A trick with cards; uniting the double Advantage of being very eafy and infallible, it being on a little numerical combination. DESIRE fome perfon in the company to chufe, at his will, three cards But a piquet pack, obferving to him, VOL. I. When he has made choice, defire him to lay on the table his three cards feparately, and to put upon each parcel as many cards as wanting to make up 15 points; that is to fay, if the firft card fhould be a nine, there must be adfive cards; and if the third a knave, ded fix cards over; if the fecond a ten, five cards likewife; this will make nineteen cards employed; confequently there will remain thirteen, which you mine them, you must count them in or are to afk for; and pretending to exader to be certain of the number that is left; then in your mind add fixteen to the remaining number, and you will have twenty-nine, number of the points that the three chofen cards under the parcels contain. CURIOUS QUESTIONS ON CARDS AND LOTTERIES. (Continued from our last Number.} Of Lotteries. which admits fo many varieties, as not A Lottery is a fpecies of gaming to be eafily comprehended in one difinition. The best description of fuch lotteries as have been usual in England, seems to be the common Christmas game on the cards, called by the name of Lottery Tickets. Suppose then we were all fet round a table with two packs of cards, one of which was spread about, with the faces downwards. The other pack we will fuppofe dealt to the company, fo that each might have what number of cards he pleased, pay ing ing a penny for each card he took into a common ftock. Upon fome of the cards spread upon the table, let a part of this common ftock be laid, and nothing on others. If all the cards of both packs be then fhewn, and thofe perfons who held a card fimilar to any of thofe in the other pack, on which part of the money has been laid, be entitled to take up that money, and all the cards fimilar to thofe which had no part of the common stock on them, be deemed blanks, we shall have a true picture of the State Lottery, as to its effential properties. In this account it is plain, that none of the players have any advantage over the other, let the prizes be of what number or inequality they may, for the fmaller each prize is, the greater is the chance for any one ticket to obtain one; and, on the contrary, if they are large, the lefs will be the probability of their falling in any particular hand. But if fo many perfons were defirous of playing, that there were not tickets enough for all, and any one, rather than ftand out, fhould be willing to give more than a penny for one chance, it is equally plain that he would be a lofer in the long run, of just so much as he gave more than the true value of each chance for let us suppose that, after the cards are diftributed, and before they are feen, a number of perfons fhould come and offer all the players to buy their tickets of them at three-halfpence each, which is agreed to: thefe new comers, then, will have paid feventy-eight pence, in return for which they will have fiftytwo pence divided fomehow among them, and confequently they will be all together lofers of twenty-fix pence. Now, though it is very likely fome one of thefe perfons may be really a gainer, by having obtained a large prize, yet, if he repeats the experiment often, he may depend on finding, in the long run, that fortune will find fomebody elfe to favour, while the dead weight of the extraordinary price he has paid is contantly operating to his lofs. The flate lottery in England has, of late years, been made to confft of 50 or 60,000 tickets, each of the value of iol. or nearly fo. The amount has been divided into prizes of different fums, from 18 or 2ol. to 30,000l. This has been always found a great temptation to the fpirit of gambling; as by this, any perfon might, for a finall fum, ftand a chance of making a conliderable fortune. Would it were clear, that this delufive hope had not frequently led individuals into the commiffion of crimes, as well as prejudiced the public, by converting a habit of industry into a rage for play! Experience has fhewn, that if a lottery contains no more than 60,000 tickets, of 10l. each, there will be fo many adventurers who defire to be concerned, as will enable the original holders of the tickets to fell their chances at 121. 10s. each; fo that they are fure of a clear profit of 50s. on each ticket, without any rifque. And, further, it is obferved, that, if the number of tickets does not exceed 50,000, they will produce a profit in the fame manner, of 31. each. But this is a trifling addition to the price of a ticket, compared with what is taken by the lottery offices; if their fchemes were computed, there might be fome hopes that mankind would become aflamed of the folly of fubmitting to fuch impofition. It is impoffible to quit this fubject, without offering one short rule for computing the impofitions in moft of thefe fchemes; and that is, let any perfon, to whom a propofal is made to purchase a fhare or chance, fuppofe that he had purchafed every number in the whole lottery on the fame terms, and then obferve what proportion his lofs would bear to the fum he adventured. Though many of their plans are too complicated to be very eafily folved by thofe who are not converfant in calculations, yet the above fhort rule will anfwer a much greater number of them than one would at first imagine.i [To be concluded in our next.] Ufe of the Divining Rod. A Dozen boxes are produced to the company, and fome one perfon is defired to put fecretly, a crown-piece into one; thefe boxes are then in fucceffion placed on the table, without opening or touching them; a rod is held over each of them, which is fupported on the two fore-fingers; when it is held over the box that contains the crown-piece, it turns round with rapidity, which occafions many perfons to believe that the metallic emanations cause it fo to turn. Each box must have, in the infide, a double moveable bottom, at a imall diftance from the first, by the action of a weak spring. This double bottom preffes on the fpring, and when it feels the weight of the crown-piece, it finks in about half. a line; by this small movement, a very minute pin, which was before imperceptible, appears on the outfide of the box, and announces that the crown-pieces are in that box. We shall now proceed to teach how to turn the rod, either for the purpose of performing the trick we have described, or in the pretended difcovery of fubterraneous waters; we fhall point out the means of doing yourself, or caufing any automaton to perform the experiments of thofe who pretend to the exclufive power of difcovering the fources of water. First, you must have a rod of ozier, hazel, or any other wood, provided it be of equal thicknets, flexible, well rounded, and polifhed. Secondly, It must be two feet in length, and bent, by giving it the fhape of a circle of two feet radius. Thirdly, to give it weight, and of courie fitter for the motion of turning round, you must apply to it three metal rings, one in the middle, and one at each end. 115 Fourthly, let it reft on your two forefingers placed horizontally, in fuch a manner, that the two points on which it refts, fhall be near the extremities of the rod; you will then perceive, that the middle will be underneath the level of the two ends, but, by gently approaching your two fingers to each other, you will find the middle of the rod to elevate by degrees, and the extremities to fall; then, if you replace your hands in their former fituation, and at the fame diftance as before, the rod will regain its firt pofition. Fifthly, It is by this drawing of your hands to and fro, that you acquire the facility of turning the rod with address, being ever particularly careful to give, the mallet apparent motion to your hands. Sixthly, Having acquired the habit of turning the rod by the vibration of your hands, if any one perceives your motion when you perforin the trick, and attempts to reproach you for fo doing, anfwer them, as the fpring-tellers do,. that the metallic emanation, or the va-; pours of the fubterranean waters, occafion the ftick to turn, and give you, at the fame time, an ague. Seventhly, When you are defired to difcover water in the country, turn your rod boldly, wherever you perceive the grafs to be green and refh in times of drought; becaufe it really there that the vapours of the fubterraneous waters fupply the grafs with moisture, that occafions its freshness. Eighthly, If this fails, you choose, always, in preference, the lowest spot of a valley, and there turn your rod, being well affured that there is water there; becaufe that must be the depofit of the rain which the neighbouring heights have abforbed. Nevertheless, if you fhould happen to be miftaker, fay, that at that moment, a current of humid air, or electrical matter, produced on you the same effect as the vapours. Ninthly, It is more difficult to caufe an automaton to turn the r than it P 2 appears appears at firft fight; the fpontaneous motions of an alert man can remedy, every moment, the changes which may chance to occur in the pofition of the rod, which, by inclining too much from the right to the left, or from the left to the right, would foon fall, if it was not fpeedily restored to its proper poife. But the movements of an automaton being neceffarily uniform, or various, without forefight to confequences, cannot furnish remedies neceffary for fortuitous fitua tions. We fhall now smooth this difficulty to direct those who wish to have the rod turned by a figure, the hands of which receives a small movement of vibration, by clock-work. Tenthly, Make a curbed rod, fimilar to the one we have described, but instead of being cylindrical, it must be parallelipede rectangle; and at the two places on which it refts, it must be rounded, and of the smallest diameter: thus, when it refts on the brass wires held by the figure, it can neither err to the right or the left, and the uniform movements of the automaton, continue to turn the rod. Eleventh, The rod being thus confructed, if you approach towards the middle, the two weights that are at the extremities without being perceived, the centre of gravity will be changed, and nobody will be able to turn it, when it is fupported from the points that are rounded; nor will it be poffible to make it turn on other points, because, being fquared every where elfe, the friction would be too great, and the vibration of the hands too visible. Twelfth, To occafion the rod to turn in the hands of a figure, when it is carried to different branches of an aqueduct, or when it is prefented with water or money, you must have a loaditone concealed in your pocket, which can operate on a fmall iron trigger, and by that means put the clock-work in motion, which is to produce the vibration in the hands of the automaton. N. B. It is now eafy to discover the origin of the popular errors refpecting the divining rod, and to fee how fo fimple a trick has impofed on the world from the twelfth century to our days: impofture, ignorance, and credulity, are the fecondary causes of fuch error; but the principal caufe, if I am not much deceived, is, that the vibration of the hands is a gentle and infenfible motion, and is performed in a right line. The motion of the rod, on the other hand, is very vifible, and at the fame time rapid and circular; it appears, at firft, impoffible that the fecond motion fhould be the effect of the first. We have faid, elsewhere, that when vifible and itriking phænomena depend on an infenfible and unknown caufe, the human mind, always bent towards the marvellous, naturally attributes thofe effects to a chimerical caufe. This has occafioned it to be believed, that fubterraneous vapours produced the turning round of the rod. Error having once taken deep root in weak minds, they become entirely deaf to the voice of reason, and, in this enlightened age, we have seen those prejudices fpread every day further, by the industry of people interested in propa gating them. FROM BRESLAW'S PRACTICE.] A perfon holding Gold in one hand and Silver in the other, to find which the Gold is in, and which the Silver. TRICKS of this kind, though very fimple, are really amufing, they are pretty puzzlers to entertain the mind, and as fuch may be recommended to young people who are inclined to be merry without defign to offend. That wit or ingenuity, which has malice or cnvy for its object, is a spurious offspring, and not the genuine defcendant of the fportive god, Momus. To tell if a perfon holds Gold in one hand and Silver in the other; which hand the Gold is in, and which the Silver. BID him reckon four for the gold, and three for the filver, or any other number, On Dice. number, fo that one be odd, and the other even; then let him triple that which is in the right hand, and double that in the left, and let him add thefe two products together; then ask him if it be even or odd; for if it be even, then the gold will be in the right hand; but if odd, the gold is in the left hand. Such tricks as these are harmless, and may be practifed, to pafs away time on a tedious evening, without the parties being the least culpable; for which reafon it is recommended to the youthful and innocent, as a pleafant recreation. To find the number of points caft on thren die; let any one caft three dice ; then bid him add together the points which are uppermoft; then fet one of the dice afide, and to the former, add the points at the bottom of the other two dice; then bid him throw thefe two dice, and mark how many points appear at the top, which add to the former fum, then let him fet one of thofe dice afide, and mark the points which are under the other dice, and add it to the former fum; laftly, let him throw that other dice, and whatever appears on the top of it, add to the for 117 mer fum, and let the dice remain, This done, come to the table, and note what points appear upon the three dice, which add privately together, and add to it twenty-one, and you will find the fum to be equal to the fum which the parties privately had made of all the other operations. Thus by calculations many things, almoft incredible to think, may be done; yet fuch alluring things are dice, as well as cards, that their nature and use are dangerous to explain to young minds; but as this may be of fervice to those who would be competent in all the branches of arithmetic, it can be of no hurt. To find the Points caft upon two Dice. AS we have given one fpecimen in regard to dice, another we presume will not be thought difagreeable, especially as the remarks made on the gond and bad ufe of them may be a warning not to convert a fimple paftime into a vicious cime; for certain, it is more a crime than folly, for any person to stake his fortune, or eftate, upon the chance of what may be uppermoft on the face of two or three pieces of spotted ivory; but as admonition is vain to those who will not hear, and of no ufe to thofe who cannot understand, any thing farther on that head would be ufelcfs; we fhall therefore proceed to the fecond fubject. To find the points caft upon two dice, let any one calt both the dice, and then mark how many points appear at the top, then let him take up one of them, no matter which, and fee what number is at the bottom, and add all together; then let him caft the dice again, and addthe points caft to the former fum; let the dice ftand, bring seven with you, and then add the points which appear at the top of the dice, and you will find fo many were caft in the whole. (To be continued.) ALBERTUSS |