It is quite true that in such examples as the above, especially the former one, nobody would ever think of appealing to statistics. This would be a tedious process to adopt when, as here, the mechanical and other conditions upon which the production of the events depend are comparatively few, determinate, and admit of isolated consideration, whilst the enormous number of combinations which can be constructed out of them causes an enormous consequent multiplicity of ways in which the events can possibly happen. Hence, in practice, _à priori_ determination is often easy, whilst _à posteriori_ appeal to experience would be not merely tedious but utterly impracticable. This, combined with the frequent simplicity and attractiveness of such examples when deductively treated, has made them very popular, and produced the impression in many quarters that they are the proper typical instances to illustrate the theory of chance. Whereas, had the science been concerned with those kinds of events only which in practice are commonly made subjects of insurance, probably no other view would ever have been taken than that it was based upon direct appeal to experience. 3. When, however, we look a little closer, we find that there is no occasion for such a sharp distinction as that apparently implied between the two classes of examples just indicated. In such cases as those of dice and cards, even, in which we appear to reason directly from the determining conditions, or possible variety of the events, rather than from actual observation of their occurrence, we shall find that this procedure is only valid by the help of a tacit assumption which can never be determined otherwise than by direct experience. It is, no doubt, an exceedingly natural and obvious assumption, and one which is continually deriving fresh weight from every-day observation, but it is one which ought not to be admitted without consideration. As this is a very important matter, not so much in itself as in connection with the light which it throws upon the theory of the subject, we will enter into a somewhat detailed examination of it.