ARE STATISTICIANS LIARS?
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Miss Margaret Knight in her article in your last issue draws timely attention to the misuse of statistics to support particular theories, but the figures she quotes on the suggested relationship between total abstinence and drinking, and longevity, are never used to imply that total abstinence is more harmful to health than drink, but rather to prove that the total abstainer has not a longer expectation of life than the moderate drinker.
The British Medical Association appointed a committee to ascertain the average age of the different categories of drinkers, and the conclusions drawn from 4,324 deaths, divided into five categories, gave the following averages attained by each :— DAYS.
22 53 67 59 23
YEARS 5. Total abstainers 51 2. Habitual temperate drinkers 63 3. Careless drinkers 59 4. Free drinkers 57 5. Decidedly intemperate drinkers 51
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