STATISTICAL METHOD, The. The word "statistics" was coined about the middle of the 18th century by Gottfried Achenwall, a professor at the University of Marburg. Achenwall derived the term from the Italian word gstatista,° meaning statesman, which, in its turn, came from the Latin "status," mean ing state. E. A. W. Zimmerman, professor of Natural History at Brunswick, in 1787, in a work entitled 'A Political Survey of the Present State of Europe,' gave this history of the origin of the word and the science which it represents: "It is about 40 years ago that the branch of political knowledge which has for its object the actual and relative power of the several modern states, the power arising from their natural advantages, the industry and civil ization of their inhabitants, and the wisdom of their governments has been formed, chiefly by the German writers into a separate science. . . . By the more convenient form it has now received . . . this science, distinguished by the new coined name of "Statistics,° is be come a favorite study in Germany.° At first the method of approach was de scriptive, but it was inevitable that figures, be cause of their greater simplicity and compact ness, should take a more and more prominent part in the development of the new science and finally replace the old verbal form of exposition. Next, as a man naturally pictures an object in terms of its most prominent char acteristics, it was not long before the term "statistics" was transferred from the science to the compilation of the facts and figures in volved and, finally, to the arrays of facts them selves. Thus we read in the first number of the Royal Statistical Society Journal issued in 1838-39, " 'Statistics' may be said, in the words of the prospectus of this society, to be the ascertaining and bringing together of those facts which are calculated to illustrate the con dition and prospects of society." The name, having once come to be applied to the data themselves, it was but a short step to the call ing of any compilation of figures or facts, "statistics," which is the modern usage of the term, while the science itself has come to be called "The Statistical Method.° The latter may be defined briefly as the science of analy sis and exposition of quantitative or qualitative data secured through enumeration or experi ment.
Application of Statistical Method. (a) Scope.— From this definition it may be seen that the statistical method is found applied wherever compilation of facts are given and accurate conclusions therefrom are wanted.
Perhaps the most common application is that of the governmental census. The most ancient of our literatures, including the Fourth Book of the Bible, the name of which denotes its reference to a statistical subject, abound in ref erences to the taking of censuses in preparation for large undertakings, such as the building of pyramids, military campaigns, the distribution of lands, and the levying of taxes. In modern times the taking of the census has been made periodic—in the United States every 10 years — and has been developed along very extensive lines, not only gathering the data, but analyz ing and illustrating them as well. The student of statistics will find in these government re ports a wonderful wealth of data on innumer able subjects.
But the Statistical Method is no longer con fined to investigations such as the census, by governmental agencies for administrative or other purposes. To-day each large corporation has its statistician, and all policies of the con cern are based on his findings. Very fre quently a business concern has been changed from a losing venture to a great success by a new manager who installed scientific methods based on a statistical study of the conditions affecting the business. Rents of business loca tions in cities are determined by a study of the number of people who pass the place. In fact modern industrial development has come to depend more and more on statistical re search. In the sciences, both physical and bio logical, the statistical method is of foremost importance. The chemists who were given the task of finding a suitable clay. for spark plugs for the Liberty motor solved the problem by this method. New serums and medical treat ments are now subjected to the severest statis tical tests before they are accepted by the medi cal profession. Statistical analyses have en abled the chemist to predict the existence of unknown elements with given atomic weights; and the astronomer to predict eclipses and lo cate new planets. The whole doctrine of evo lution and heredity rests on a statistical basis as shown by investigations of Mr. Francis Gal ton and Prof. Karl Pearson in the field of the mathematical theory of evolution, and by the work of Gregor Mendel and his followers along the lines of Mendel's Laws of Alternative Inheritance.