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Can we mean by chance an event without a cause ? Cer- 
tainly not. Does it imply that the causes are so obscure ancl 
so baffle our conceptions and investigations, that we say the 
effects or results which we can appreciate have taken place by 
chance? If so, it may be somewhat of the meaning of the 
word ; yet this can scarcely be so always, for we do not say 
that a plant ripens its fruit by chance, though we understand 
not the laws of its development nor the processes of its fruc- 
tification. 
To such results we assign the term law , and not chance, 
solely because we see the same effects issuing from similar 
causes. If the expected result do not, however, occur, as when 
a plant refuses to ripen its seed, we consider that it is due to 
some unaccountable interference of unexpected conditions. 
These may sometimes be accounted for in a general way, as, e.g., 
excessive wet, blight of fungus or caterpillar, &c. ; but as often 
not; so that, as the result is often practically uncertain, we 
cultivate crops knowingly at a certain risk, saying that it will 
be all chance whether we get a good harvest or not. Such, 
then, may be considered as one form of chance, namely, when 
events take place contrary to our expectations. A very general 
signification, however, would seem to imply undesignedness in 
the results, or when “ an event takes place to the exclusion of 
some other event which, as far as human experience, judgment, 
or foresight can calculate, might as easily [and, perhaps, with 
more probability] have occurred.” ( Walker’s Dictionary , s. v. 
“ Chance.”) 
Thus, for example of undesignedness. A man travels from 
London to York, his friend travels from York to London, 
neither being aware of the intentions of the other. They meet 
by chance. Here, then, we have an undesigned coincidence. 
A familiar instance of the latter definition, given by Walker, 
will be found in racing. Two men may run ; one, from former 
experience, and from appearing to be the better runner, may 
be expected to win, yet from some chance the other may. An- 
other explanation of the word will be found in a cause, or series 
of causes, although known as to their nature, yet cannot be 
traced and calculated. Thus a die falls from the box with ace 
uppermost. This we attribute to chance ; but if we knew the 
position of the die in the box, all the forces and their direc- 
tions which are brought into play by shaking the box, all the 
parabolic curves which the die describes, and all the attendant 
circumstances of motion upon the die, the result would be cer- 
tainty. These causes, however, are not traceable ; and we say, 
accordingly, that the result of the ace being uppermost was 
purely a matter of chance. 
