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64   NATURAL INHERITANCE.   [CHAP.

succession of rows of pins stuck squarely into the backboard, and below these again are a series of vertical compartments. A charge of small shot is inclosed. When the frame is held topsy-turvy, all the shot runs to the upper end ; then, when it is turned back into its working position, the desired action commences. Lateral strips, shown in the diagram, have the effect of directing all the shot that had collected at the upper end of the frame to run into the wide mouth of the funnel. The shot passes through the funnel and issuing from its narrow end, scampers deviously down through the pins in a curious and interesting way ; each of them darting a step to the right or left, as the case may be, every time it strikes a pin. The pins are disposed in a quincunx fashion, so that every descending shot strikes against a pin in each successive row. The cascade issuing from the funnel broadens as it descends, and, at length, every shot finds itself caught in a compartment immediately after freeing itself from the last row of pins. The outline of the columns of shot that accumulate in the successive compartments approximates to the Curve of Frequency (Fig. 3, p. 38), and is closely of the same shape however often the experiment is repeated. The outline of the columns would become more nearly identical with the normal Curve of Frequency, if the rows of pins were much more numerous, the shot smaller, and the compartments narrower ; also if a larger quantity of shot was used.

The principle on which the action of the apparatus depends is, that a number of small and independent