NATURE OF STATISTICAL KNOWLEDGE 75 



are in their essence too exact for precise verifi- 

 cation. They are verifiable only approximately. 

 Hence, since they demand precise verification, we 

 never know them to be literally true. 



"But statistical theories, just because they are 

 deliberate approximations, are often as verifiable 

 as their own logical structure permits. They 

 often can be known to be literally, although 

 only approximately, true." 



It is the object of the present paper to discuss 

 statistical concepts and statistical methods, for 

 the purpose of trying to see whether these methods 

 do in fact seem to lead to a higher kind of knowl- 

 edge, and are hence to be considered destined to 

 become the exclusive methods of science. In 

 this discussion let us endeavor to avoid dogmatic 

 assertion, since, in the first place, assertion does 

 not really get us far in the search for truth, and, 

 in the second place, the writer himself feels in 

 regard to this question very far from that serene 

 consciousness of being quite unassailably right 

 which is essential to proper dogmatism. Indeed, 

 it is for the purpose of definitely formulating 

 some doubts, which have grown in the writer's 

 mind during fifteen years in which the greater 

 part of his time and energy have been devoted to 

 the application of statistical methods to biological 

 problems, that this paper is written. Very likely 

 some will not agree with its reasoning or its 

 tentative conclusions, but even in such event, it 



