CHAPTER XVIII 



STATISTICAL INQUIEY 



A LARGE and interesting field is open to the veterinary 

 statistician, for with the exception of the returns of 

 Contagious Diseases furnished by the Board of Agriculture, 

 and the returns furnished by the Veterinary Department 

 of the Army, but little has been done in the matter. 



We have very little idea what the loss of horses is in 

 civil life, either from old age, accident, or disease. We do 

 not even know how many horses there are in Britain, or 

 the equine population of any of our large towns ! The 

 value of such information would be very great, especially 

 to the political economist and hygienist. 



We require information respecting the distribution of 

 disease in all classes of animals, and its mortality; the 

 influence of season, sex, age, work, and management on 

 the production of disease. We ought to know for what 

 period horses may be reasonably expected to last in our 

 big cities, employed in the different capacities assigned to 

 them; the proportion of sound and unsound horses of 

 different breeds, and the common causes of unsoundness in 

 each. 



Many persons affect to ignore statistics, and it is usual 

 to say that figures may be made to prove anything. This 

 is not correct ; statistics have their value when the data 

 are reliable, and the matter carefully handled with the 

 object of eliminating error. The causes which may vitiate 

 statistics are an incorrect, incomplete, and insufficient 

 number of facts, and illogical grouping. 



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