Prediction markets in Jules Verne

From Around the World in Eighty Days:

Everybody knows that England is the world of betting men, who are of a higher class than mere gamblers; to bet is in the English temperament.  Not only the members of the Reform, but the general public, made heavy wagers for or against Phileas Fogg, who was set down in the betting books as if he were a race-horse.  Bonds were issued, and made their appearance on ‘Change; Phileas Fogg bonds” were offered at par or at a premium, and a great business was done in them.  But five days after the article in the bulletin of the Geographical Society appeared, the demand began to subside: “Phileas Fogg” declined.  They were offered by packages, at first of five, then of ten, until at last nobody would take less than twenty, fifty, a hundred!

Lord Albemarle, an elderly paralytic gentleman, was now the only advocate of Phileas Fogg left.

I should add that it is quite easy to read this novel as a critique of the “death of distance” view, and other forms of hyperbole about globalization.