Statistics, and its role in the improvement of Public Health- David Zilberman

A vital tool that was used by epidemiologists to convey findings in regards to social conditions is statistics. In Victorian Social Medicine: The Ideas and Methods of William Farr, four major components of statistics are listed. These divisions are: economic, political, medical and moral. All of which can be used to explain the filthy conditions of the impoverished in England.

As both of the leads pointed out, urbanization of society lead to the deteriorating conditions, as Engels described in he Conditions of the Working Class in England. The focus of the nascent science was on the conditions of England. In Victorian Social Medicine: The Ideas and Methods of William Farr, statistics was described as a method to find the solutions for England’s state of destitute. This social science could be used as a method to make conclusions regarding certain legislations and acts. The most important fact was that bias and political tampering must be avoided.

The creators of the Statistical Society of London point out the benefits of Statistics: “… we arrive at a knowledge of the physiology of societies, and comprehend the paroxysms of disease which they sometimes exhibit in a state of violence or the exhilaration of health… Empirical treatment of symptoms, without this knowledge, must be vain in it effects upon the body politic as upon the human frame…” This quote stresses the importance of statistics by saying that this type of social science would allow the accurate depiction of conditions of society, and without this data, it would be realistically impossible to improve Public Health.

William Farr helped improve living conditions of society because of his major contributions to statistics. One of his views was that the horrendous conditions in which the poor lived in were at large caused by “physical defects” in societal cities. As Megan pointed out, many of the middle class men viewed “sturdy beggars” as scurrilous individuals. William Farr did not show sympathy with these paupers and supported the Poor Law as a temporary solution. Farr did show great sympathy for the people who were suffering due to urbanization and societal conditions. Many of his writings described his shock as to the conditions in which the poor live in.

Farr believed that reform in public health was possible and was a strong advocator of self- help.  As many other health practitioners, Farr believed that statistics could be used to depict the conditions of life and epidemic disease. He saw it as a method of ameliorating medical knowledge that would as a result improve overall Public Health. Farr believed that this social science would discover certain relationships in medicine, social conditions, and other fields. He was able to promote certain laws due to observations. Farr proposed certain relationships between food prices and mortality. He then drew conclusions between population density and life expectancy. All of these inferences were made possible due to his use of statistical methods.  Farr was able to create many life tables that depicted the rate of mortality and age. He was able to explain how outside factors were able to influence life expectancy. Overall, Farr was able to use statistics as an impetus for the improvement of public health due to its social findings.