154i REPORT — 1864. 



bera over to the geographers, recommending them, when they give the populations 

 of countries, even in their elementary books, to cite the figures with discrimination. 

 A due appreciation of the value of published facts is an element in all the sciences. 

 Statistics is prosecuted to some extent in every State ; and in countries where 

 observation is difficult, intelligence scarce, and facts fugitive, figures appear to 

 be so essential that they are invented. I should regret to apply this remark to the 

 census of the Sandwich Islands, which iu 18(31 had a population of (37,084 nati^'es 

 and 2716 foreigners, and is declining, accoiding to the census of King Kameha- 

 meha IV. and of his Anglo-Saxon Queen Emma, nee Miss Rooker. Indeed I would 

 rather adduce the insular census to prove that statistics are journeying round the 

 world, and that the statistics of small States are often interesting, and illustrate 

 general laws, 



It is evident that the statistics of Bath, for instance, which has 52,528 inhabi- 

 tants, are at least as instructive as the statistics of Hesse Homburgh, Avhich has 

 a population of only 20,817; while those of the 444,873 people of Somerset, the 

 county in which we meet, are not a whit less interesting than those of anj' of 

 twenty-four small kingdoms and principalities in Germany, which fill the pages of 

 that useful publication the Gotha Almanack. 



Wherever there is local Government we look for local statistics, as they aftbrd 

 means of information wliich enlightened municipal councillors cau always turn to 

 account, W'e may well believe that, as Adam Smith boasted he had converted 

 some of the merchants of Ghisgow to his doctrines before he had "promulgated 

 them to the world, his spirit lingers among their descendants, for the statistics of 

 that city have long held an honourable place on our rolls. The statistics of Glasgow 

 are (as indeed are those of any city) of universal interest, when they are collected 

 and discussed by such a statist as the late l)r. Strang, a truthful observer, a thought- 

 ful writer, and an excellent man. In the name of our Section I venture to say 

 that we shall be very glad if the Mayors (with the prosperity of Glasgow before 

 themj and all the town councils in England, Bath leading, will at once appoint 

 competent oihcers to elaborate their statistics. 



As well as Governments and municipal liodies, England has always at work in 

 the field of science richly gifted independent men, like Buckle and Darwin, who 

 devote their lives to science, either as observers or reasouers ; and as an example 

 of what an individual can do, I will cite Dr. Heysham, who twice enumerated from 

 house to house the population of Carlisle, abstracted the ages of the dead from 

 the burial registers, and published the results in a judicious form. The volume 

 Mr. Milne (as he informed me) found by chance on a book-stall; whereupon he 

 opened a con-espondence with Dr. Heysham, constructed the Carlisle Life Table, 

 and deduced a general law of mortality which served through many years as the 

 basis for thousands of transactions, and for the valuation of millions of property. 

 The names of the two men, the statistical observer and the statistical reasoner, 

 will remain for ever engraved upon our annals. 



It is evident that statistics may be investigated in every English parish ; and I 

 know no fairer field than local statistics oiler to a liberal and ingenuous mind. 

 Some subjects can be more impartially investigated by private gentlemen than 

 by men in office ; and a specimen is a paper by Mr. Norman, which is a model 

 of style and statistical logic, proving the fact, which at first appeared paradoxical, 

 that, large as the taxation is, the people of England pay less in proportion to their 

 means, and get more work for their money than the people of any other comitry*. 

 Again, the remarkable work before you of M. Guerry, on the comparative crime 

 of England and France, embodies the laboiu-s of the life of one of the most inge- 

 nious private statists in Europef- 



The Statistical Society of London has done so much, by its papers and its Journal, 

 in the eyes of Europe for science, that a similar Society has recently been founded 

 in Paris, and publishes an excellent Journal, to which M. Legoyt and others con- 



* On the Pressure of Taxation in this and other Couutries. By George Warde 

 Norman, Esq. 



t Statistique Morale de I'Angleterre compart avec la Statisque Morale de la France. 

 Par M. A. M. Guerry, Correspondant de I'lnstitut, &e, 1864. 



