ON THE STATISTICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 557 



the Pastor Sussinilch in I'lussia, in a celebrated book 

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

 towards optimism, and as a proof of an overruling 

 Providence.^ 



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 

 of tabulating of numbers of facts referring to any 

 special sul)ject under investigation, has been criticised 



7. 

 Bacon's 

 "Method of 

 Iiistances. " 



^ The difference seems to narrow 

 itself down to thi.«, th<at 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 tht'oriciue 

 et pratique de Statistique,' (2""^ 

 ed., Paris, 1886). Referring to 

 tlie theological statistician, A. von 

 Oettingen, and comparing him with 

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

 certains rapports, i'oj)inion de M. 

 le professeur de thcologie Alex- 

 andre d'QJttingen, pouira paraitre 

 I'opposee de celle de (Quetelet, 

 mais elle nous semble en diHc'rer 

 beaucoup moins que le savant pro- 

 fesseur ne le croit. . . . Nous 

 pouvons caractdriser en peu de 

 mots ce que MM. d'(Eltingen et 

 Quetelet ont de commun et com- 



ment ils different : ils ont de 

 commun le fond de la science ; ils 

 constatent I'un et I'autre la r6- 

 gularite du mouvement des faits ; 

 ils ne different que par linter- 

 pretation : (Quetelet voit des lois 

 naturelles l:i oil JI. le professeur 

 d'Qilttingen voit des lois morales 

 institutdes par Dieu. Aussi I'un 

 uomme-t-il son Hvre Physique 

 sociale, et I'autre Ethi(iue sociale. 

 M. d'ffittiiigeu est uu croyant qui 

 aime h, s'appuyer sur la science. 

 II dit, page 13 de la premiere 

 edition : ' Dans les sciences connne 

 dans la religion, ce que I'homme 

 invente ne pent etre (jue faux, 

 tandis que les verites qu'il de- 

 couvre, sont uniquement des faits 

 ou des lois qui rayonnent du 

 Createur.'" The reconciliation of 

 either physical or moral order with 

 the existence of freewill is not 

 a statistical but a philosophical 

 problem. 



