STATISTICS. 
it keeps pairallel to itself. For all right 
lines, drawn from any part of the Earth’s 
orbit, parallel to one another, do all point 
to the same star j the distance of these 
lines being insensible, in comparison of that 
of the fixed stars. 
Saturn is seen stationary at the distance 
of somewhat more than a quadrant from 
the Sun ; Jupiter at the distance of fifty- 
two degrees ; and Mars at a much greater 
distance. Saturn is stationary eight days, 
Jupiter four, Mars two, Venus one and a 
half, and Mercury a half, though the several 
stations are not always equal. 
STATISTICS, a modern term adopted to 
express a more comprehensive view of the 
various particulars constituting the natural 
and political strength and resources of a 
country than was usually embraced by 
writers on political arithmetic. Its princi- 
pal objects are, the extent and population 
of a state, the occupation of the different 
classes of its inhabitants; the progress of 
agriculture, of manufactures, and of inter- 
nal and foreign trade ; the income and wealth 
of the inhabitantSj and the proportion drawn 
from them for the public service by taxa- 
tion; the condition of the poor; the state of 
'schools, and other institutions of public 
utility ; with every other subject, the know- 
ledge of which tends to establish the true 
civil policy of the country, and consequently 
to promote its prosperity. 
The great change which has taken place 
In the business of government, since the in- 
troduction of the modern system of war- 
fare, by which the time and labour of a 
considerable number of persons is wholly 
appropriated to the profession of arms; and, 
particularly, since the adoption of the bor- 
rowing system for defraying the expences of 
ivar, has rendered statistical information of 
ranch more importance than formerly ; the 
naval and military force which a country is 
capable of furnishing depending essentially 
on the state of population and employment, 
and the public finances becoming, by a con- 
tinual accumulation of taxes intimately con- 
nected with the state of agriculture, con- 
sumption, and foreign trade. Many errors 
and inconsistencies of former statesmen and 
legislators might have been avoided by a 
better knowledge of the state of the coun- 
try ; yet, although the utility of cultivating 
this branch of knowledge has become so 
obvious, few of the governments of Europe 
have appeared much disposed to promote 
statistical inquiries. It will be a subject of 
wonder to future rimes, that even in Great 
VOL. VI. 
Britain, so late as the year 1800, the state of 
the population, on which its capability of 
defence so much depended, was a subject 
of so much uncertainty, as to be estimated 
by many persons at but little more than half 
what it was afterward ascertained to be. 
As a comparison of such statistical ac- 
counts as have beeh published of the differ- 
ent states of Europe would be in a great 
degree useless and unsatisfactory, since the 
violent arid essential alterations most of them 
have recently undergorie, we shall confine 
ourselves to the principal particulars rela- 
tive to Great Britain, as deduced from public 
documents, and other authentic sources. 
The island of Great Britain is about 590 
miles in length, and the circuit of its coast 
makes about liiOO miles : the part consti- 
tuting England and Wales is in length, from 
Newhaven, in Sussex, to Berwick upon 
Tweed, 355 miles, and in breadth, from the 
South Foreland, in Kent, to the Land’s End, 
in Cornwall, 325 miles. 
The area oG England and Wales, com- 
puted in acres, has been very differently 
stated by different authors ; for as it has 
never been ascertained by an actual survey, 
varions modes of computation have been 
adopted, which hate disagreed materially in 
the result. The following are the principal 
estimates on this point. 
By Sir William Petty 28,000,000 
Dr. Grew 46 , 000,000 
Dr. Halley.... 39,938,500 
Templeman 31,648,000 
Arthur Young 46 , 916,000 
Rev. H. Beeke.. 38,498,572 
In the returns relative to the poor, laid 
before the House of Commons iri 1804, it 
was stated, that by the best computation 
England and Wales contained 58,335 square 
statute miles, and 37,334,400 statute acres. 
Scotland, with its islands, contains about 
21,000,000 of acres. 
The soil of South Britain is annually crbp- 
ped nearly in the following proportions. 
Wheat. . 3,080,000 
Barley and rye 850,000 
Oats and beans 2,800,000 
Cilover, rye-grass, &c 1,120,000 
Turnips, carrots, cabbages, &c. 1,120,000 
Fallow 2 , 100,000 
Hop grounds 35,000 
Nursery grounds 8,500 
Fruit and kitchen gardens 45,000 
Pleasure grounds 16,000 
11,174,500 
R 
