ON THE STATISTICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 557 



the Pastor Siissmilch in Prussia, in a celebrated book 

 bearing the title ' On the Divine Order/ with a tendency 

 towards optimism, and as a proof of an overruling 

 Providence. 1 



Although it is generally admitted by writers on stat- 

 istics that in the narrower sense of the word they have 

 existed ever since the existence of governments which re- 

 quired to know the number of their population, the nat- 

 ural resources of the country, and its means of subsist- 

 ence or defence, there is a general opinion current that 

 what we now call the statistical methods in science and 

 in practice were introduced, or at least expressly recom- 

 mended, by Lord Bacon under the name of the " Method 

 of Instances." This method, which consisted in a kind " Method of 



Instances. 



of tabulating of numbers of facts referring to any 

 special subject under investigation, has been criticised 



Bacon's 



1 The difference seems to narrow 

 itself down to this, that one class 

 of writers refers everything to a 

 physical, the other to a moral, 

 order. M. Maurice Block, an 

 eminent writer on statistics, dis- 

 cusses this question, passing a num- 

 ber of modern authors under 

 review in the fifth chapter, 3, 

 of his excellent 'Traite" the*orique 

 et pratique de Statistique ' (2 me 

 <kl., Paris, 1886). Referring to 

 the theological statistician, A. von 

 Oettingen, and comparing him with 

 Quetelet, he says (p. 146): "Sous 

 certains rapports, 1'opinion de M. 

 le professeur de the'ologie Alex- 

 andra d'CEttingen, pourra paraitre 

 I'opposee de celle de Quetelet, 

 mais elle nous semble en diffeYer 

 beaucoup moins que le savant pro- 

 fesseur ne le croit. . . . Nous 

 pouvons caracte'riser en peu de 

 mots ce que MM. d'CEttingen et 

 Quetelet ont de commun et com- 



ment ils different : ils ont de 

 commun le fond de la science ; ils 

 constatent 1'un et 1'autre la re- 

 gularite' du mouvement des faits ; 

 ils ne different que par 1'inter- 

 pretation : Quetelet voit des lois 

 naturelles la ou M. le professeur 

 d'CEttingen voit des lois morales 

 institutes par Dieu. Aussi 1'un 

 nomme - 1 - il son livre Physique 

 sociale, et 1'autre Ethique sociale. 

 M. d'CEttingen est un croyant qui 

 aime a s'appuyer sur la science. 

 II dit, page 13 de la premiere 

 Edition : ' Dans les sciences comnie 

 dans la religion, ce que 1'homme 

 invente ne peut etre que faux, 

 tandis que les veritus qu'il de~- 

 couvre, sont uniquement dea faits 

 ou des lois qui rayonnent du 

 Crdateur.'" The reconciliation of 

 either physical or moral order with 

 the existence of freewill is not 

 a statistical but a philosophical 

 problem. . 



