PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
s 
Mr. Lester F. Ward made a communication entitled 
THE FREQUENCY OF COINCIDENCES. 
[Abstract.] 
Every one is constantly meeting with coincidences in every-day 
life, but few ever take the trouble to record them. Mr. Ward had 
always been struck by their frequent occurrence and remarkable 
character, but until within about fifteeir years had been content, 
as most people are, to allow them to pass with only a momentary 
expression of surprise. Certain comments upon them, however, 
which he had met with in the writings of Auguste Comte and Dr. 
Georore M. Beard had led him to take a wider view of their signifi- 
cance and to commence in the year 1875 the practice of jotting- 
down in his note-book some of the more interesting and striking of 
them. In this way a large collection of instances had accumulated, 
a few of which were selected for presentation to the Society. These 
were read directly from his notes, without change of phraseology, in 
order to preserve their literal accuracy. Most of them were of a 
character which, according to the mathematical law of probabil¬ 
ities, would not occur again within any finite limitation of the 
events with which they were associated. 
The only application which it was attempted to make of the facts 
was to point out their bearing upon the investigations which had 
been recently conducted by the British Society for Psychical Re¬ 
search, fron; which, in Mr. Ward’s opinion, unwarranted conclu¬ 
sions had been drawn, and which, he believed, receive their true 
explanation only when the frequency of coincidences is fully recog¬ 
nized. 
This communication was discussed by Messrs. Woodward and 
Clarke. 
299th Meeting. • March 12, 1887. 
The President in the Chair. 
Thirty-four members and guests present. 
The President announced the death on March 5th, at Pensacola, 
