ABSTRACT
The development of economic statistics paralleled the growth of the economy. The first economic statisticians, Whitworth, Chalmers, and Playfair, were writing at the time of the 'take-off' of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1770's and the 1780's. The science of economic statistics was therefore a kind of self-congratulation which could not be controverted since it rested solidly on 'the facts'. For men, however vehemently some may protest, must deal with numbers. The world of numbers and the world of ideas are not discrete universes: matters of quantitative preponderance have a way of effecting qualitative changes. The Malachy Postlethwayts and their more number-conscious brothers, the James Postlethwayts, are more closely related than they would appear. People may perhaps believe with the artisans who formed the first London Statistical Society that not only are 'exhibitions of well-arranged statistical facts' helpful to 'promote the welfare of society', they also 'exemplify the way of God to man'.
