STATISTICS. From the numerous definitions of statistics which
have been given since Achenwall, the learned professor of
Göttingen, established this science and gave it a name, we might
think that it is very difficult to define its nature and the
extent of its domain. Such is not the case, however. The most
different definitions have served as introduction to the most
similar works, and the ordinarily informed person is no more
ignorant than the adept, that, without figures, without
"numerical terms", there is no statistics. The quantity of
explanations, developments and deductions which can be added
without encroaching upon some neighboring domain, is all there
can be any discussion about. —The question whether statistics is
a method or a science, as if it could not be both, will also be
discussed. As a method, it is an instrument of observation;
instead of saying that the use of such and such a remedy
succeeds often or sometimes in such and such a disease, the
professor of medicine should say to his pupils: