A Brit Course in Statistics. By D. Caradog Jones. (Bell.
15s. net.)—As statistics play an increasingly important part in national_ affairs, this well planned introduction to the science should be helpful to many students. It involves of necessity a considerable knowledge of mathematics, but the main principles are plainly stated. The author discusses averages,such as are used in the preparation of the famous Index Number by which many people's wages are raised or lowered—dispersion, graphs, sampling, curve fitting and other branches of the subject. His chaptei on applications of sampling formulae which have been tested is particularly interesting. Thus, Dr. Bewley made an arbitrary selection of 400 companies from a list of 3,878 and deduced certain results ; he then showed, by calculation from the complete list, that the results of the sampling were approxi- mately accurate for the whole number. The author is well aware, however, that figures may be hopelessly misinterpreted, consciously or unconsciously.
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