io 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tegrity of results. We must know the number of all the people, the 

 total value of products and of capital, the aggregate wages paid in 

 manufactures, and various other data where there would be little or 

 no value unless all are included in the results. This class of statistics 

 demands higher statistical qualifications, both in preparing for the 

 enumeration and in the tabulation, classification and analysis of the 

 results. 



The third kind of statistics are those secured through a special inves- 

 tigation of certain representative facts. For instance if it is desired to 

 learn the cost of producing iron and steel, it is not necessary, as in the 

 previous case, to secure data for all the establishments engaged in such 

 production. A few representative works offer ample information for 

 determining cost of production. So, in endeavoring to ascertain the 

 course of wages and prices, it is not essential to secure aggregates or 

 data relating to all prices or to the wages paid to all the people 

 employed. 



The practical work of official statistical offices is divided into three 

 parts also — first, the collection of data, which involves the preparation 

 of schedules and instructions ; second, the tabulation and the presenta- 

 tion of the results obtained, and, third, the analysis. No statistical 

 table should ever be used without consulting carefully all textual treat- 

 ment thereof, the accompanying notes and the analysis. 



Facts may be presented in two ways — in tables, comparative and 

 otherwise, and by the graphical method. The latter is popular and 

 very effective in displaying proportions. The difficulty with it is that 

 one cannot in a speech or in an article quote the diagrams, but it has 

 a very important place in scientific statistics. The graphical method 

 is carried to an absurd degree at times, but it nevertheless offers to a 

 certain class of minds the very best method of determining results. 

 Tn the final reflections upon statistics, however, one is drawn to the 

 figures themselves. 



With these preliminary statements, the general subject for discus- 

 sion to-night brings us to the question : Is statistics a science or a 

 method? It is not a matter of much consequence whether statistics 

 constitutes a science or is simply a method. English writers on statis- 

 tics generally consider it a method; continental writers, a science. 

 American students often lean to the continental view. It is true that 

 statistical research can be called a scientific method of determining 

 facts and for studying various phenomena from which laws relating 

 to life, production, distribution, consumption, etc., etc., can be drawn; 

 and the method must be considered scientific, because by it the facts 

 can be clearly stated, classified and analyzed, elements which make 

 science in every department. 



We speak of the science of botany, for one reason because all the 



