HUMAN LONGEVITY. 113 



called a new method of research, though now among the 

 foremost in contributing to the extension and exactness of 

 human knowledge. It is curious, but true, that the under- 

 standing of this particular mode of reaching truth was never 

 fairly attained by the philosophers of antiquity. Some 

 practical application of it is, indeed, next to inevitable in the 

 most common processes of human thought and enquiry. But 

 the principle was never fully recognised or converted to scien- 

 tific use ; an intellectual anomaly having close kindred with 

 another still more singular default in the ancient philosophy ; 

 viz., the want of any right appreciation of experiment, as the 

 most certain and powerful instrument of scientific research. 



Modern science has fully acknowledged, and carried into 

 active use, these two great methods ; mutually dependent in 

 every part and principle of their application. The law of 

 averages, indeed, has acquired of late a wonderful extension 

 and generality of use ; attaining results, from the progressive 

 multiplication of facts, which are ever more nearly approach- 

 ing to the fixedness and certainty of mathematical formulae. 

 Every single observation, and every new fact added, comes 

 into contribution to these resulting truths. Phenomena, 

 seemingly the most insulated, and anomalies the most in- 

 explicable, are thus submitted to laws which control and 

 govern the whole. 



Many of our readers must be aware how largely this doc- 

 trine of averages has been applied, not merely to physical 

 phenomena, but even to the social and moral conditions of 

 man, as the highest tenant of that globe on which his destiny 

 is cast. Under the auspices of Quetelet and others of his 

 school, aided by the facilities of intercommunication now 

 existing between the different regions and races of the earth, 

 statistical knowledge thus attained has taken a high place 

 among the sciences, and promises for the future a powerful 

 influence on the' welfare of mankind. 



