Originally published in 1948, and first delivered as the Fitzpatrick Lectures for 1941 and 1943, this book addresses the early history of medical and social statistics and the numerical method as applied to the phenomena of human society. Greenwood covers the major developments from Graunt and Petty in the seventeenth century to Farr in the nineteenth century as well as the personalities of each of these important figures. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of medicine.