46 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
general relation exists. Starting with tooo young ladies at 13 years of age, 
three of the young ladies marry during this year. ‘The velocity of marriage 
increases until during the 19th year the number is 131, the maximum velocity of 
134 per year being reached at 20. Half of them are now married, and from this 
time these interesting creatures drop off much less rapidly. At the age of 30, 
only ro out of 1000 marry, while at the age of 4o, the chances for a fist marriage 
are practically gone. Those who have had previous experiences of this kind might 
perhaps manage to make some arrangement even then. 
It will be observed that the chances do not diminish symmetrically on oppo- 
site sides of the maximum. In the operation of drawing balls, this would be rep- 
resented by the case where the number of white balls was say greater than the 
number of black, making the probabilities less in drawing black. 
We are thus able to calculate how many times out of too draws we shall 
draw all white balls from an urn, but we cannot predict what will be the result of 
any particular draw. We can predict how many times in too measurements a 
person will make an error of a thousandth of an inch, but we cannot predict what 
the error will be in any particular case. We can predict how many shots a 
certain marksman will put into a circle two inches in diameter, but we cannot 
predict where any one shot will strike. In a class of sufficient dimensions we may 
be able to predict how many will have mental ability enough to reach a mark of 
go per cent., but we cannot discuss the infinite number of subtile influences that 
have been acting on any one person, giving to each its proper weight; we cannot 
repeat the same thing for his ancestors, tracing back from him through the centu- 
ries the numberless divergent threads of inherited tendencies, and thus give a 
complete reason for the ability and inclination to learn, which any given student 
manifests. We cannot tell why any person varies an inch in height from the 
average of his kind; nor can we give a complete reason for similar divergencies 
in moral stature. Quetelet has shown that we can predict how many men will 
commit murder or suicide in Paris during a year, but we cannot discuss the matter 
in such a way as to enable us to predict who the unfortunates will be, at what 
moment they will decide to commit the fatal act, and exactly what they severally 
lacked, mentally or physically, the possession of which would have changed their 
decision. 
But we can imagine a being, who shall be mentally able to do all this; to 
give a complete solution of any problem that the human mind can propose. The 
causes for the breaking down of a railroad bridge can be given by a competent 
engineer, and he may be able to detect the weak points in the theory of its con- 
struction: he may be able to guard in part against flaws in the material. In the 
same way, and in a much more perfect manner, an infinite mind could discuss the 
breaking down of a human resolution, under the strain of temptation, and could | 
give a precise reason for the physical, mental, or moral divergence of any given 
man, from the average man. 
