Reply to Prof. Pearsons criticisms 



BY 



J. C. KAPTEYN. 



In N»3 1 and 2 of Biometrika, Vol. IV, Prof. Pearson 

 referring to my paper „Skew frequency curves in biology 

 and statistics" ') : 



ist- maintains that in my theory I havc followed Ed- 

 geworth without acknowledging his priority; 



2"'i- réfutes my or Edgeworth's theory. 



As to the first point: I must plead guilty m part and 

 I offer Prof. Edgeworth my apologies. I confess to hâve 

 overlooked his papers. I may perhaps adduce as an atte- 

 nuating circumstance that thèse papers hâve been also 

 overlooked in the bibliographies of both Prof. L ujd w i g and 

 of Davenport, the only bibliographies on the subject with 

 which I am acquainted. 



On my request Prof. Edgeworth kindly sent me a re- 

 print of his papers in the .Journal of the statistical society. 

 In Vol. 61 Part 4 the author, in accordance with whatis 

 said on pages 10 — 12 of my paper, remarks in substance 

 as follows: 



When a certain character {x) is distributed according to 



1) P. N r d h 1" i; Grouingen, 1903, 



