STATISTICS 



STATUTES 



principle lying at the foundation of the science as 

 ultimately developed is that the law.s which go\em 

 nature, and more especially those which govern 

 the moral and physical condition of mankind, are 

 constant, and are to he discovered by the investiga- 

 tion and comparison of phenomena extending over 

 a very large number of instances. Accidental 

 diversities tend to neutralise each other, their 

 inHuenoe diminishing as the area of investigation 

 increases ; and if that urea be sufficiently extended, 

 they so nearly disappear that we are entitled to 

 disregard them altogether. While the length of a 

 single life cannot be counted on, an average of 

 1000 or 10,000 lives gives us a constant quantity, 

 sufficiently near the truth to answer the purposes 

 of insurance companies. Even the acts which are 

 the most purely voluntary as regards individual 

 men have been found to be subject to laws which, 

 in respect of the masses which make up society, 

 are invariable in like circumstances, and discover- 

 able. 



The science of statistics has a twofold relation to 

 political and social economy. The fact* collected 

 by the statist are the bases on which political 

 economy rests ; their application to social and 

 economical problems is an appeal from imagination 

 to fact. But the statist must be guided by the 

 political economist in what direction to extend 

 his investigations : without political economy we 

 should have had no statistics. There have been 

 keen and useless controversies as to whether 

 statistics is an adjunct to other sciences, and a 

 mere method, or an independent science ; and as 

 to whether it should limit its scope to national and 

 social phenomena (in which acceptation the WOK) 

 ' demography ' has been proposed as a descriptive 

 name), or should be extended into meteorology 

 and other natural sciences. It is impossible to 

 give any convenient and comprehensive classifica- 

 tion of the multifarious topics that fall within the 

 sphere of the statistician population, trade in- 

 land and foreign, wealth, currency, prices, banks, 

 social conditions, the people, &c. 



There was a kind of statistical bureau in France 

 in Sully 's days ; such an institution was perman- 

 ently set agoing in 1800. But the perfecting of 

 statistical methods owes more to the foundation of 

 the Belgian statistical bureau under Quetelet in 

 1831. Since then most civilised lands have devoted 

 much time, labour, and money to collecting and 

 tabulating their statistics France, Italy, and Ger- 

 many, and the United States l>eing perhaps 

 remarkable for the fullness and systematic organi- 

 sation of their statistical returns. What is done 

 in England is not managed by any one central 

 bureau or Ixmnl, and is ]c-s systematic, though 

 veiry varied and valuable (see BLUE HOOKS). 



There was a statistical section added to the 

 British Association in 1833, and the Statistical 

 Society of London was established in 1834. Under 

 Quetelet's influence a great statistical congress 

 was brought together at Brussels in 1853, amflike 

 congresses have l>een held since, usually at in- 

 tervals of three years, in one of the chief European 

 towns. The Journal of the Statistical Society and 

 the Journal de la Societe de Statistique of 'Paris 

 appear regularly ; and in 1885 an ' International 

 Institute of Statistics' was founded, which puh- 

 lishes a Bulletin de I'lnstitut Internationale de 

 Statitliqne. 



See the articles In this work on CKNBIIS, MORTALITY 

 (HII.LH or), IKSURANCK, GRAPHIC MrrHoim. AVERAOK, 

 I'KoHABiLiTiEA, VITAL STATISTICS ; the relevant sections 

 in the articles on Great Britain and the several countries, 

 a* ako such article* a COTTON, KAILWATH ; annual* like 

 the Al manor de (JoOuL, Statesman' i Year-Book, and snoh 

 almanac* H Whitakrr'i ; Uulhall's Dictionary of Stalittict 

 (1888; new ed. 1891-92); Kolu'i Condition of Nation* 



(Eng. trans. 1880); Hubner'i5tou(icA( Ta M( annual)- 

 Webster^ Trade of the World (1880); Biock'u Trail* 

 Theuriyue et Pratique de Statutioue ( 1878 ) ; and other 

 works and articles about statistic* by modern statisticians 

 like Bodio, Hauohofer, Kries, Gabaglio, Fair, Giffeu, and 

 Sir Kawson Kawson. 



M atius. PUBLICS PAPINIUS, Roman poet, wa 

 born at Naples 40 to 45 A. D., son of a poet and 

 schoolmaster at Naples and at Rome. From early 

 youth addicted to poetry, he gained prizes in the 

 contests at Naples, won the Alban (.live wreath 

 three times, and flourished as a court poet in the 

 favour of Domitian, whom he flattered almost as 

 shamelessly as his rival Martial himself. II. lost 

 the wreath of oak-leaves at the Capiloline com- 

 petition in 94, and thereafter retired to Naples 

 with his wife Claudia, where he died about 96. 

 His chief work is the Thtbais, an epic in twelve 

 books on the famous theme of the struggle be- 

 tween the brothers Eteocles and Polynices of 

 Thebes. The poem took twelve years to write, 

 yet its construction is slovenly enough one epi- 

 sode alone occupying one-sixth of the whole 

 poem. It is tedious as a whole, and marred by 

 over alliteration and allusiveness, lnu is redeemed 

 by passages of exquisite art. Of another epic, the 

 Achilleu, only a fragment consisting of one Ixxik 

 and part of another remains. His tlilinr, or occa- 

 sional verses, apparently half improvisations, are 

 thirty-two in number, extending to nearly 4000 

 lines, mostly in hexameters. They have the ftesl, 

 ness and vigour, together with the artistic ini|>er- 

 fections, of unpremeditated effort, but, putting 

 aside the flatteries to the emperor, they show not 

 seldom a spark of the right Promethean" fire. The 

 quick touches of pathos, on separation and death, 

 and on the sweet chann of childhood, would alone 

 preserve some of these slight poems from oblivion. 



The editio princtpt of the epics appeared in 1470, of 

 the Silnx in 1472. Throughout the middle ages the fame 

 of Statius was great, as readers of Dante ( t'urii. xxi. ) will 

 remember. The best editions of the ThetMli are by ( ) 

 lluller (books L-vi. only, 1870) and Ph. Kohlmann 

 (1844); of the Achilleit, by Kohlmann; of the SUnt, 

 by Jeremiah Markland (1728) and by Baehrens ( 1876). 



Statuary. See SCULPTURE. 



Statute of Frauds. See FRAUD. 



Statutes. A statute expresses tin- will of the 



legislature. It takes effect from the liist i lent 



of the day of its passing. Except in Scotland, it 

 remains in force though obsolete ; and when re- 

 pealed it is not revived by the repeal of the 

 repealing act. It is always to be construed 

 'according to the intent of them that made it." 

 Primarily, technical words are understood in their 

 technical, other words in their popular srri-c. 

 When precise and free from ambiguity, they 

 receive their literal meaning and grammatical 

 construction, whatever may be thought ot the 

 wisdom or policy of the enactment. But language 

 is so imperfect, and general words are so elastic 

 and open to such varieties of meaning ami force, 

 that the literal construction often .Iocs mil express 

 i In- real intention. Where such a doubt arises ii . 

 is necessary to consider what was the earlier law, 

 what its defect, and what the proposed remedy 

 and its object; in other words, to examine thii 

 history of the act and the context. The whole act 

 is read, every part in the sense best harmonising 

 with the rest. The preamble is especially invoked 

 to explain what is doubtful. Earlier acts, though 

 cxpiied or repealed, and even later ones on the 

 same or analogous subject, are resorted to, also, 

 for light. The tit.le, marginal notes, and punctua- 

 tion are disregarded, and so are all statements of 

 members of the Houses and draftsmen as to what 

 was intended. 

 The scope and object of the act being thn 



