84 SCIENCE AND METHOD. 



not be amenable to any law, while our chance has its 

 own laws. All these points would require a much 

 longer development, which would help us perhaps to 

 a better comprehension of the irreversibility of the 

 universe. 



VIII. 



We have attempted to define chance, and it would 

 be well now to ask ourselves a question. Has chance, 

 thus defined so far as it can be, an objective character? 



We may well ask it. I have spoken of very small 

 or very complex causes, but may not what is very 

 small for one be great for another, and may not what 

 seems very complex to one appear simple to another ? 

 I have already given a partial answer, since I stated 

 above most precisely the case in which differential 

 equations become too simple for the laws of chance 

 to remain applicable. But it would be well to exam- 

 ine the thing somewhat more closely, for there are 

 still other points of view we may take. 



What is the meaning of the word small? To 

 understand it, we have only to refer to what has 

 been said above. A difference is very small, an 

 interval is small, when within the limits of that in- 

 te£val the probability remains appreciably constant. 

 [Why can that probability be regarded as constant 

 in a small interval ? It is because we admit that the 

 law of probability is represented by a continuous 

 curve, not only continuous in the analytical sense of 

 the word, but practically continuous, as I explained 

 above. This means not only that it will present no 

 absolute hiatus, but also that it will have no projections 

 or depressions too acute or too much accentuated. 



What gives us the right to make this hypothesis ? 



