HUMAN FACULTY 281 



and the individual estimates were distributed in such 

 a way that it was an equal chance whether one of 

 them selected at random fell within or without the 

 limits of 3.7 per cent., or + 2.4 per cent, of the 

 middlemost value of the whole. 



The result seems more creditable to the trust- 

 worthiness of a democratic judgment than might have 

 been expected. But the proportion of the voters who 

 were practised in judging weights undoubtedly sur- 

 passed that of the voters in ordinary elections who 

 are versed in politics. 



I endeavoured in the memoirs just mentioned, 

 to show the appropriateness of utilising the Median 

 vote in Councils and in Juries, whenever they have to 

 consider money questions. Each juryman has his own 

 view of what the sum should be. I will suppose each 

 of them to be written down. The best interpretation 

 of their collective view is to my mind certainly not the 

 average, because the wider the deviation of an 

 individual member from the average of the rest, the 

 more largely would it effect the result. In short, 

 unwisdom is given greater weight than wisdom. In 

 all cases in which one vote is supposed to have one 

 value, the median value must be the truest representa- 

 tive of the whole, because any other value would be 

 negatived if put to the vote. If it were more than the 

 median, more than half of the voters would think it too 

 much ; if less, too little. My idea is that the median 

 ought to be ascertained, which could be very quickly 

 done by the foreman, aided by one or two others of the 

 Jury, and be put forward as a substantial proposal, after 

 reading the various figures from which it was derived. 



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This is a convenient place for speaking of an 



