PHILOSOPHICAL CONCLUSIONS. 383 



penetrable substance against which they had struck. All the 

 modifications of the separate shot, their particular stopping- 

 places of rest, in fact every particular of the shape, condition, 

 and position finally assumed by the shot, would in greater or 

 less measure be the result of the influence upon them of the 

 conditions of the environment. 



The immediate conditions of environment in which each 

 shot was found would appear to be a sufficient cause to ex- 

 plain the particular modification of that shot from its original 

 simple globular condition. The exact repetition on the shot 

 striking the brass button of its particular form would seem to 

 be sufficient evidence to prove that the one cause of the form 

 assumed was the adjustment of the shot to the conditions of 

 its environment. The fact observed is the actual perfect ad- 

 justment of the lead pellicle to its conditions of environment; 

 this adjustment is interpreted as an expression of equilibrium 

 between the moving pellicle and the resisting environment, 

 and the interpretation leads to the theory that the modifica- 

 tion is the resultant of natural selection among the numerous 

 forces expressed in the resisting obstructions to the once 

 started shot. When we use results in this sense it is evident 

 that the causes are various and of various values. There is 

 the initial energy expressed in the properties of the explosive 

 powder, the directive force expressed in the barrel of the gun 

 which guides the explosion in one direction ; and there is the 

 aim of the gun made by the man shooting it, and even be- 

 hind this is the mental direction of the muscular action. 

 Each of these was a determining cause in bringing about the 

 shape of the pellet, and in accounting for the distribution and 

 shaping of the shot each was a cause of greater importance 

 than the particular conditions of its place of final rest. 



Although it is scientifically true and accurate to define the 

 particular flesh, bone, button, or nail-head as determinants in 

 bringing about the final result of the motion of the lead pel- 

 lets through space, their actual and relative positions, and the 

 shape they finally assume, these conditions of environment 

 are but causes of diversion from the direction, position, and 

 relative distribution which were determined before the en- 

 vironment was met with. 



