Item 60 - Richard Jones to William Whewell

RJ went to dine with Henry Hallam, Thomas Malthus and John Elliot Drinkwater at Charles Babbage's. Malthus did not turn up: 'I prevailed on Babbage (who was not reluctant) to call a general meeting of the Committee of the association [BAAS] for next week and got an authority from them to set about forming a society as the best means of carrying the spirit of the Cambridge instructions into effect'. RJ proposes to divide the proposed Statistical Society as follows: 'Economical Statistics 1 agriculture - 2 manufactures 3 commerce and currency 4 distribution of wealth i.e. rent[,] wages and profits. Political Statistics 1. statistics of elements of institutions...2 Legal statistics number of national and local tribunals, nature of causes tried etc. public establishments etc. etc. Medical Statistics 1 general medical statistics 2 Population (the doctors say they shall want subdivisions) Moral Intellectual Statistics 1 Crime 2 education and literature 3 ecclesiastical statistics'. The first meeting will be in two or three weeks.