Haditbeenpossibletoadducefiftyinsteadoffiveexamplesofbodiesfoundfloatingattheendoftwoorthreedays，thesefiftyexamplescouldstillhavebeenproperlyregardedonlyasexceptionstoL’Etoile’srule，untilsuchtimeastheruleitselfshouldbeconfuted。Admittingtherule，andthisLeMoniteurdoesnotdeny，insistingmerelyuponitsexceptions，theargumentofL’Etoileissufferedtoremaininfullforce；forthisargumentdoesnotpretendtoinvolvemorethanaquestionoftheprobabilityofthebodyhavingrisentothesurfaceinlessthanthreedays；andthisprobabilitywillbeinfavorofL’Etoile’spositionuntiltheinstancessochildishlyadducedshallbesufficientinnumbertoestablishanantagonisticalrule。
“Youwillseeatoncethatallargumentuponthisheadshouldbeurged，ifatall，againsttheruleitself；andforthisendwemustexaminetherationaleoftherule。Nowthehumanbody，ingeneral，isneithermuchlighternormuchheavierthanthewateroftheSeine；
thatistosay，thespecificgravityofthehumanbody，initsnaturalcondition，isaboutequaltothebulkoffreshwaterwhichitdisplaces。Thebodiesoffatandfleshypersons，withsmallbones，andofwomengenerally，arelighterthanthoseoftheleanandlarge-boned，andofmen；andthespecificgravityofthewaterofariverissomewhatinfluencedbythepresenceofthetidefromsea。
But，leavingthistideoutofquestion，itmaybesaidthatveryfewhumanbodieswillsinkatall，eveninfreshwater，oftheirownaccord。Almostanyone，fallingintoariver，willbeenabledtofloat，ifhesufferthespecificgravityofthewaterfairlytobeadducedincomparisonwithhisown-thatistosay，ifhesufferhiswholepersontobeimmersed，withaslittleexceptionaspossible。
Theproperpositionforonewhocannotswim，istheuprightpositionofthewalkeronland，withtheheadthrownfullyback，andimmersed；