Introduction to medical biometry and statistics / by Raymond Pearl.

  • Raymond Pearl
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Introduction to medical biometry and statistics / by Raymond Pearl. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    48/474 page 42
    CHAPTER II SOME LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF VITAL STATISTICS In the earlier volumes of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society—those mines of curious information—a favorite form of contribution was the “tabular resume/’ which presented a series of more or less statistical facts on a chronologic base. So dis- tinguished a precedent seems to justify the use of the same method to furnish a bird’s-eye view of the development of bio- statistics itself. Consequently the table which follows has been prepared. TABULAR REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF VITAL STATISTICS This “tabular resume” attempts to set forth in chronologic array what the passage of time has shown to be some of the most important landmarks in the history of biostatistics. To disarm in some measure criticisms, which from the standpoint of the pro- fessional historian would otherwise be undoubtedly merited, it may be said, first, that there has been no slightest thought of encom- passing within this short table a complete history of the subject. Historic completeness and the tabular form of presentation do not go well together. The object of the present table is much simpler. It is to get before the student the briefest conspectus of the time relations of the development of the subject, on the one hand, and of the personalities concerned in a large pathbreaking way in this development, on the other hand. The precise manner in which such a purpose will be carried out w ill obviously be different for each person who attempts it. One person’s estimate as to the relative historic significance of a particular event or personality will differ from another’s. In any event, it seems clear that any historic review of vital statistics would be bound to contain at
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image