LIFE AND CHANCE 
push on, to overcome obstacles, and to turn the in- 
organic forces against themselves, thus making life 
strong by the strength of the obstacle it surmounts. 
We cannot still the wind, but in our sailboats we 
can use it. 
The extent to which the law of probability rules 
in the organic world is seen in the fact that the pro- 
portion of males to females among all species keeps 
pretty uniform. In any given city or country there 
will probably be about the same number of deaths 
from the various diseases year after year, unless 
some means of fighting disease are employed. There 
will be about the same number of weddings and 
elopements, about the same number of defective 
persons born, about the same number of persons 
that reach extreme old age, and of persons above or 
under the average height. The fluctuations about a 
common mean in all things will be pretty regular. 
Indeed, the law of averages plays about as full a 
part in organic as in inorganic nature. It is prob- 
able that just about as many boys will be drowned 
while skating each winter and while bathing each 
summer. 
In a world of pure mechanics and chemistry all 
these things would remain about the same, century 
after century. But the reason and soul of man intro- 
duce a new element, and the dice are loaded, at 
times, at least. Still, the law of probability plays a 
prominent part in the affairs of men and nations. 
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