Vital statistics : a memorial volume of selections from the reports and writings of William Farr / edited for the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain by Noel A. Humphreys.

  • William Farr
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vital statistics : a memorial volume of selections from the reports and writings of William Farr / edited for the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain by Noel A. Humphreys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    30/600
    of vital statistics, and to public health. In 1847 tlic lionorary dogrt-ii of M.D. of New York was conferred upon him. In ] 852 he was elected an Honorary Member of the Institute of Actuaries. The distinction of Fellow of the Royal Society was conferred upon him in 1855 ; and in 1857 the Eoyal Medical and Chirnrgical Society elected him an Honorary Fellow in the distinguished company of Dr. Virchow. In the same year the honorary degree of D.CL. was conferred upon him at Oxford. About this time he also received the honour of election as Corresponding Member of the Institute of France. Ten years later, in October 1867, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the .King and Queen's College of Physicians in Bubliu. Lastly, at the time of his retirement, he was, on the recommendation of I<ord Beaconsfield, gazetted a Companion of the Civil Division of the Order of the Bath. As soon as Dr. Farr's retirement from the Registrar-General's Office became known, a very general feeling was expressed that the occasion called for some public recognition of the exceptional value of his services. With a view to carrying out this project a Committee Avas formed, of wliich the Earl of Derby accepted the Chairmanship, and a subscription list was opened. The amount subscribed was 1,132/., which, at Dr. Parr's request was invested in Bank of England Stock for the benefit of his three unmarried daughters, in order to supplement the very slender provision which he had been able to make for their support after his death. On Dr. Farr's death in 1883, the Government contributed 400/. to this Testimonial Fund, which was then closed, and the net proceeds invested in accordance with the expressed desire of Dr. Farr. In an Appendix to this volume will be found a list of the subscribers to this fund, and the balance sheet of the treasurer, as audited on the closure of the fund. That Dr. Fai-r was a man of undoubted genius few who are really acquainted with his work could fail to recognise. This opinion is only enhanced by the knowledge of the comparatively slight educational advantages he enjoyed in his youth, and of the fact that in turning these slight advantages to the fullest account he was in the truest sense a self- taught man. He was, however, not only a thorough mathematician (although no record exists of his ever having had any instruction in mathematics), but was an accomplished linguist. He spoke French fluently, and read equally well the German, Italian, and the classic languages. An appreciative friend of Dr. Farr's, who accompanied him to Florence in 1867, when the International Statistical Congress was held there, remembers with pleasure the respectful and almost affectionate regard in which he was held by the eminent statistical delegates who met there, including M. Quetelet and M. Engel. His address, delivered in French, upon the mortality from cholera in East London in 1866, describing its sudden outbreak, and its as sudden cessation when the supply of polluted water which was its cause ceased, was listened to with breathless attention.