83 
PROCEEDINGS OP THE 
powers. Under some governments it is thought sufficient to 
keep an imperfect account of the births and burials of their 
subjects ; under others even this is not attended to, and it is 
impracticable. As we are thus, to a great extent excluded 
from Foreign Statistical data, w r e must necessarily confine our 
investigations to those of our own country. 
We have in this country a set of Statistical Tables, pre- 
pared by Mr. Porter, and presented by command of the 
government to both Houses of Parliament ; they include the 
statistics of the last seventeen years ; the first volume con- 
taining ten years, from 1821 to 1831, since when, five others 
have appeared, more perfect in their details than the first, 
and bringing the tables up to a later date, 1835 ; but as these 
are prepared for the most part from the data to be found in 
the various government offices, such as the Excise, Customs, 
and other tax offices, together with some documents prepared 
especially for this purpose by order of the government, and 
though no one can doubt but that these data are exceedingly 
numerous, yet, they are defective in many of the details, 
and certainly so in any scientific arrangement : hence it be- 
comes eminently the duty of all those whose peculiar studies 
may have fitted them for the investigations of particular 
subjects, to carry out the data thus furnished them ; as it is 
the business of the chemist to investigate the proportionate 
consumption of those articles more immediately appertain- 
ing to his science, so it should seem to be no less the duty of 
the Botanist to carry out similar investigations, with respect 
to those appertaining to the object of his own studies ; to 
the philanthropist, whatever branch of science he may 
pursue, the importance must be obvious, and further explana- 
tion useless. 
It is, however, the more incumbent on each to make these 
investigations for his own science, not only that each would 
be better qualified to give a proper scientific arrangement to 
the results, but that there is so limited a number of persons 
who confine their attention solely to statistical investigations, 
that it cannot be expected that they should be able to per- 
form the whole of the operations necessary to produce the 
most perfect results. 
The science of statistics too, is not a science difficult to be 
acquired, requiring little besides mere diligent and plodding 
labour to produce the desired results ; in this it scarcely 
differs from any other study, though it is wanting in the 
