380 



STATISTICS. 



confined a view, as if it had to treat only of those 

 particulars in the condition of a country which can 

 be reduced to numerical calculation, and exhibited 

 in tables, such as the number, employments and 

 \vt\ilth of the people. The frequent reference to 

 41 statistical tables," and the frequent use of the 

 phrase, may be in part the occasion of this. 



A full, statistical view of the actual condition of 

 a people requires the exhibition, 1. of the physical 

 character of the country and the parts composing 

 it, in regard to situation, boundaries, extent and 

 soil, mountains, woods, rivers, climate; also of the 

 numbers and national diversities of the people; 

 their extraction, languages, &c. ; the classes into 

 which they are divided (nobility, free proprietors, 

 bondsmen, slaves, officers, merchants, manufac- 

 turers, farmers, mechanics, soldiers, &c.) ; and their 

 religious differences (the various sects, &c.) : 2. of 

 the degree of civilization shown in the state of the 

 useful arts and occupations (agriculture, mechanical 

 and manufacturing industry, commerce) ; in the in- 

 stitutions for the promotion of the fine arts; in the 

 schools, universities, scientific academies, sale of 

 books, &c. ; in the manners of the people, and their 

 conduct in all their important relations, moral, poli- 

 tical and religious : 3. of the form of government, 

 whether monarchical or republican, despotic or 

 limited ; whether there be a popular representation 

 or an assembly of the estates whether the representa- 

 tion is in one or two chambers ; whether the repre- 

 sentatives take part in legislation, or merely in the 

 imposition of taxes; whether there is a responsi- 

 bility of the ministers, and none of the monarch, 

 &c; also of the relations of church and state 

 (whether any exist, and, if so, whether the hierar- 

 chical or territorial system prevails; whether there 

 are concordates with Rome) ; likewise of the family 

 of the monarch, where one exists, the age, religion, 

 &c., of the members, the family laws of the ruling 

 house, the court, and the laws relating to it, the 

 military orders, &c. : 4. of the administration of the 

 state (including all the temporal and spiritual 

 authorities, &c., in particular the departments of 

 justice, police, finances, the army and navy). 



In treating of the foreign relations of the state, 

 this science shows, 1. the standing of the particular 

 state (if it be in Europe) as to the other members 

 of the European family, whether it be a power of 

 first, second, third or fourth rank, and particularly 

 its relations to its immediate neighbours (thus, in 

 treating of German states, it would show their re- 

 lations to the whole confederacy; so likewise with 

 the Helvetic cantons and the American states) : 2. 

 the reciprocal influence of its domestic and foreign 

 politics: 3. of the existing treaties with foreign 

 states, indicating the sources of information respect- 

 ing them, their most important points, and their 

 beneficial or injurious consequences. According to 

 the example of some distinguished statistical 

 writers (e. g. Hassel, in the statistics of Austria 

 and Russia; Stein, in those of Prussia, and others), 

 a view of the gradual increase or decrease of the 

 state, in respect to extent, population, &c., may be 

 given advantageously. 



Statistics differ from geography in this respect, 

 that, though many particular facts belong equally 

 to both, yet geography arranges them always on the 

 principle of locality, but statistics with reference 

 to their effect on the general condition of the na- 

 tion. Thus geography mentions the mountains, 

 rivers, woods, in describing the districts where 

 they are found, or speaks of their distribution, to 



give a view of the face of the country: statistics 

 treats of them collectively, with a view to their 

 pob'tical importance, as affecting the productiveness 

 of the country, favouring or obstructing communi- 

 cation, &c. In a military description, the same 

 subjects would be treated with particular reference 

 to their military importance. Geography treats 

 also of manufactures, commerce, trade, public au- 

 thorities, universities, schools, seminaries, museums, 

 &c., in describing the places in which they are situ- 

 ated ; but statistics combines them, with a view to 

 arrive at scientific results. Statistics, in modern 

 times, has often been mixed with geography, hi 

 some cases advantageously to the immediate pur- 

 poses in view, but in many to the disadvantage of 

 science and sound knowledge. 



Statistics was first scientifically treated in Ger- 

 many : Achenwall gave it, in 1749, its name and 

 systematic form. Since his time, it has become 

 more and more separated from geography and his- 

 tory, and has been cultivated independently of them ; 

 but even before him, authors had scientifically com- 

 bined statistical materials ; for instance, some Ital- 

 ians, as Sansovino Botero ; some Frenchmen, as 

 d'Avity; and particularly Germans, as Conring, 

 Oldenburger, who died in 1678, at Geneva, the 

 author of Thesaurus Rerum publicarum (4 vols., 

 Geneva, 1675); Gastel, in his De Statu publico 

 Europes novissimo (Nuremberg, 1675, folio) ; Von 

 Zech, in his European Herald (3 vols., Leipsic, 

 1705, folio, in German), and several others ; Dutch- 

 men, as De Luca, in his Descriptio Orbis, &c. 

 (Leyden, 1655) ; and Everhard Otto, in his Prinue 

 Linece NotiticE Europce Rerum publicarum (Utrecht^ 

 1762). Following Conring's example, Achenwall 

 delivered university lectures on statistics. His 

 Staatsverfassung der Europdischen Reiche im Grun- 

 drisse, passed through seven editions. Several 

 other manuals appeared. To the department of the 

 theory and history of statistics belong Gatterer's 

 Idea of Universal Statistics (Gottingen, 1773); 

 Schlozer's unfinished Theory of Statistics (Gottin- 

 gen, 1804) ; Niemann's Sketch of Statistics, (Al- 

 tona, 1807); and a vast number of other works. 

 Among the statistical manuals are Hassel's Complete 

 Manual of the most recent Geography and Statistics, 

 and Stein's Manual of Geography and Statistics 

 (4th ed., 1819). Among the living statistical 

 writers of Italy are Balbi, Quadri and Melch. Gioja. 

 The statistics of crime have been most attended to 

 in France and England. The French writers have 

 paid particular attention to comparative statistics ; 

 for example, baron Dupin, a statistical writer of 

 the first order ; also the Italian Gioja, in his Filo- 

 sofia della Statistica (2 vols., 4to., Milan, 1826, et 

 seq.). Meusel published a Literature of Statistics 

 (2d edition, 2 vols., in German). 



Statistical tables may lead, and have led, to in- 

 correct notions, when the bare results are con- 

 sidered, without reference to the causes and accom- 

 panying circumstances, but when used with due 

 caution, they are of the highest importance. The 

 influence of the study of statistics has been incal- 

 culable : it is the test and the basis of the principles 

 of political economy, and has mainly contributed to 

 that knowledge of the condition and interests of 

 nations which distinguishes our time. Every na- 

 tion will find its interests essentially promoted by 

 cultivating and making public its own statistics; 

 and writers like Dupin are public benefactors. 



Among the best statistical works are Hassel's 

 Statistical Sketches of all the European States 



