2 
Editorial 
enquiry must deal, is not an individual but a race, or a statistically representative 
sample of a race ; and the result must take the form of a numerical statement, 
showing the relative frequency' with which the various kinds of individuals com- 
posing the race occur. 
As it is with the fundamental phenomenon of variation, so it is with heredity 
and with selection. The statement that certain characters are selectively elimi- 
nated from a race can be demonstrated only by showing statistically that the 
individuals which exhibit that character die earlier, or produce fewer offspring, 
than their fellows ; while the phenomena of inheritance are only by slow degrees 
being rendered capable of expression in an intelligible form as numerical state- 
ments of the relation between parent and offspring, based upon statistical exami- 
nation of large series of cases, are gradually accumulated. 
These, and many other problems, involve the collection of statistical data on a 
large scale. That such data may be rendered intelligible to the mind, it is neces- 
sary to find some way of expressing them by a formula, the meaning of which 
can be readily understood, while its simplicity makes it easy to remember. The 
recent development of statistical theory, dealing with biological data on the lines 
suggested by Mr Francis Galton, has rendered it possible to deal with statistical 
data of very various kinds in a simple and intelligible way, and the results already 
achieved permit the hope that simple formulae, capable of still wider application, 
may soon be found. 
The number of biologists interested in these questions, and willing to under- 
take laborious statistical enquiries, is already considerable, and is increasing. It 
seems, therefore, that a useful purpose will be served by a journal especially 
devoted to the publication of statistical data, and of papers dealing with statistical 
theory. Many persons are deterred from the collection of biometric data, by the 
difficulty of finding such a means of publishing their results as this journal will 
afford, and those results which are published frequently lose much of their value 
because the data on which they are based are withheld, or because they are 
isolated in publications largely devoted to other forms of investigation. Further, 
Biometrika will endeavour to introduce a uniformity of statistical treatment, 
terminology, and notation, so that results obtained by different investigators on 
different types of life may be easily and effectively compared. 
Biometrika will include (a) memoirs on variation, inheritance, and selection in 
Animals and Plants, based upon the examination of statistically large numbers of 
specimens (this will of course include statistical investigations in anthropometry) ; 
{h) those developments of statistical theory which are applicable to biological 
problems; (c) numerical tables and graphical solutions tending to reduce the 
labour of statistical arithmetic; {d) abstracts of memoirs, dealing with these sub- 
jects, which are published elsewhere ; and (e) notes on current biometric work 
and unsolved problems. It is proposed to include memoirs written in English, 
German, French, or Italian. 
