The Modem Theory of Instinct 369 



able to reach, without showing a preference for 

 one part over the other. That is how the 

 Ammophila must have acted, when still ignorant 

 of her art. 



Now how many points are there in a Grey 

 Worm, above and below ? Mathematical 

 accuracy would answer, an infinity ; a few 

 hundreds will serve our purpose. Of this 

 number, nine or perhaps more have to be 

 selected ; the needle must be inserted there 

 and not elsewhere : a little higher, a little lower, 

 a little to one side, it would not produce the 

 desired effect. If the favourable event is a 

 purely accidental result, how many combina- 

 tions would be needed to bring it about, how 

 much time to exhaust all the possible cases ? 

 When the difficulty becomes too pressing, you 

 take refuge behind the mist of the ages ; you 

 retreat into the shadows of the past as far as 

 fancy can carry you ; you call upon time, that 

 factor of which we have so little at our dis- 

 posal and which, for this very reason, is so 

 well suited to hide our illusions. Here you 

 can let yourselves go and lavish the centuries. 

 Suppose we shake up hundreds of figures, all 

 of different values, in an urn and draw nine at 

 random. When shall we, in this way, obtain 

 a sequence fixed beforehand, a sequence that 

 stands alone ? The chance is so slight, answers 



2A 



