Biometrika Trust

Biometrika: The First 100 Years

Author(s): D. R. Cox
Source: Biometrika, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 3-11
Published by: Biometrika Trust
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 (2001), 88, 1,pp. 3-11
Biomnetrikca
? 2001 BiometrikaTrust
Printedin Grecat
Br-itcain

Biometrika:The first100 years

BY D. R. COX
College,OxfordOX] INF, U.K.
Nuffield
david.cox@nuffield.oxford.ac.uk

SUMMARY
A broad sketchis givenoftheoriginsofBiometrika, ofthecontentsoftheearlyvolumes
and of the progressionof thejournal over thecentury.
A key word: History of statistics.

1. THE BEGINNING

On 16 November1900W. F. R. Weldon wroteto Karl Pearson (K. P.) followinga

meetingof the Royal Society.
The contention 'thatnumbersmeannothing and do notexistin Nature'is a very
seriousthing,whichwillhaveto be fought.Mostotherpeoplehavegotbeyondit but
mostbiologistshavenot.
Do youthinkit wouldbe too hopelesslyexpensive to starta journalofsomekind?
If one printed500copiesofa Royal8vo oncea quarter, sternlyrepressing
anything
bywayofillustration exceptprocessdrawings and curves,whatwouldtheannualloss
be,takinganypracticalpricepernumber? If no Englishpublisher wouldundertakeit
at a cheaprate,thecostofgoingto FischerofJena,or evenEngelmann, wouldnotbe
verygreat.
This was followedby a draftcircularfromWeldonon 29 November,and K. P. replied
suggestingthatthe sciencestudiedshould be called biometry, a termalreadyin use by
Galton and others,and its officialorganBiometrika.
By early1901a guaranteefundhad been raised.It coveredthecost ofpublicationuntil
withina fewyearsthejournalbecamefinancially viable.In thesummerof1901publication
throughCambridgeUniversityPress was organised,the special problemsof printing
suitablylarge amountsof tabularmaterialsurmounted, and in October 1901,less than
12 monthsafterWeldon'sinitiative, thefirstissue ofBiometrika appeared,thefrontispiece
bearingthe slogan 'Ignoramus,in hoc signo laboremus'undera photographof a statue
of CharlesDarwin.
Galton was a consultingeditorand fora while the American,C. B. Davenport,was
also an editor,althoughit seemsclear thatthe greatmajorityof the workwas done by
Weldon and K. P.: the specifically biological parts by Weldon and the remainderand
most of the detailedwork,includingproofcorrection, by K. P.

2. THE BACKGROUND
The later yearsof the 19thcenturyand earlyyearsof the 20th centurywere ones of
intenseinterest
in populationgeneticsofplants,animalsand humans,an interesting
paral-

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4 D. R. Cox
lel to the currentwave of enthusiasmforgenetics.Galton in 1885 had formulatedwhat
came to be called his law of ancestralheredity,accordingto whichthe contribution to a
phenotypewaned geometrically throughgenerations. Towardstheend ofthe 19thcentury
Mendel's work became more widelyknown and W. Bateson was the centreof a clash
betweentheMendeliansand theschoolled byK. P. and Weldon.EarliertheRoyal Society
had in 1894 establisheda committeeto studytheseissues,but thisfairlysoon dissolved
in disagreement.
The conflictwas undoubtedlyaccentuatedby thepersonalitiesinvolvedon both sides.
It was not long beforeG. Udny Yule proposeda synthesis, but thiswas not favourably
receivedby K. P. at least untilafterWeldon'sdeath.
A key point in the disagreements seems to have come in connectionwitha paper of
K. P.'s called 'Homotyposis',submittedto the Royal Societyin October 1900 and read
on 16 November,the day of Weldon's letter.Its receptionwas veryhostile,at least in
K. P.'s and evidentlyWeldon'sview.K. P. was concernedthatthe Societywould reject
the paper forpublicationand asked that the abstractshould be withheldso as not to
prejudicepublicationelsewhere.One refereewas Leonard Darwin who,on 15 December
1900,recommended publicationin full,althoughhe was gentlycriticalin suggestingthat
morethoughtwould show a lot of the detailedalgebrato be unnecessary.He also comn-
mentedon the use of excessivenumbersof decimalplaces in the analysisof low-quality
data! The otherreferee, Bateson,had reportedon 15 Novemberthat the topic was of
'highinterest' buttheanalysis'based on a fallacy'.He was unable'to taketheresponsibility
of recommending publication'.He attacheda long commentary, ratherthan a report.
K. P.'s paperwas acceptedin January1901and appearedin November1901.Throughout
1901 and beyond,therewas a long correspondence betweenK. P. and the Royal Society
officersabout thefateof Bateson'scommentswhichwereconsideredas a separatepaper,
in factappearingin December 1901. K. P. arguedthatthe Royal Societyshould publish
onlyoriginalworkand not criticisms of otherwork,but thathe shouldhave the rightof
replyiftheydid publishBateson'spaper. At one point,in a quite protractedcorrespon-
dence,he wrote:'One mightalmost imaginefromyour letterthat I was the aggressor.
Insteadit is I who am draggedintothearena'.Be thatas it may,it is clearthatverysoon
after16 November1900 the decisionto go ahead withBiometrika had been taken.
In 1904 Bateson was Presidentof the Zoology sectionof the BritishAssociation.His
presidential addressat theannualmeetingin Cambridgebeganbyplacingthethenexisting
volumesofBiometrika on thetable and declaringthemto be worthless. Weldonand K. P.
werein the audience,and Weldonis reputedto have said to K. P.: 'well at least we got
his subscription'.However,he was wrongbecause Bateson had borrowedthe University
Librarycopies.
AfterWeldon'sdeaththecontroversy softenedsomewhat.Even so, at some point,K. P.
havingrefusedto publisha replyby Batesonto a criticismofa criticism, Batesonhad his
remarksprintedprivatelyin preciselythe same formatas Biornetrikca. A detailedaccount
of this whole period in the developmentof human geneticsis given by Froggatt&
Nevin (1971).

3. THE FOUNDERS
The followingremarksabout W. F. R. Weldon (1860-1906) are based largelyon the
moving50-pageobituaryof himn writtenby K. P. and publishedin Biometrika(Pearson,
1906). Weldonread naturalsciencesat Cambridge,beingfirsta studentand thena fellow

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 Thefirst100 years
Biometrika: 5
ofSt John'sCollege,and followinggraduationwas activeas a researchworkerin compara-
tive anatomyand otherareas of biology.He became a professorat UniversityCollege
London in 1891 and moved to a chair at Oxfordin 1900,a chairnow named afterhim.
K. P.'s account of the days at UniversityCollege tells of Weldon's intenseactivityin
writing, in discussionand in fieldwork in theU.K. and Italy.Duringhis periodin Oxford
Weldon wroteof his affectionfor'dear old Gower Street'.He regretted that'thesenice
Oxfordboys' had no one to forcethemfromthe riverand the playingfieldinto the
laboratoryand the lectureroom. The use of the word 'boys' does not, of course,imply
anythingabout Weldon'spersonalattitudeto womenstudents.Therewererelatively few
womenstudentsin Oxfordat thattimeand extremely fewstudyinga science.
K. P. (1856-1936) was born of middle-classparents,both fromYorkshire,an area
known then as now for what is mildlycalled sturdyindependence.When 16 he was
privatelytaughtby Routh,the well-knownexpertin the theoryof elasticity, who intro-
duced K. P. to thatsubject,whichin factbecame his initialfieldof specialisation.When
an undergraduate at King'sCollege,Cambridge,he won a battlewiththecollegeauthorit-
ies leadingto the abandonmentofcompulsoryattendanceat divinitylectures.He said he
would leave foranothercollegeif attendancewas insistedon. Being told thathe would
not be givena 'bene decessit',he was able to say thathe alreadyhad acceptancefrom
anothercollegewithoutthatformality. Aftera substantialstruggle, he won.
K. P.'s statisticalreputationhas sufferedsomewhat;he is remembered as the inventor
of the Pearson systemof frequency curvesand especiallyof the chi-squaredtest,and the
authorof The Grammar ofScience,but also as theman who,in disputewithR. A. Fisher,
insistedthatthedegreesoffreedomin a 2 x 2 table were3 and, perhaps,as thevictimof
R. A. Fisher'sposthumousdescriptionof him as 'a peevishand intolerantold man'. Yet
a look at thefirst14 yearsofBiometrika showsnot onlysomeoneofphenomenalenergy,
but also a scientistofastonishingly broad interestsand intellectualvigourand originality.
He was also deeplyinvolvedin theprogressivesocial and politicallifeofthatperiod.He
was firmlycommittedto the view that many social and human problemswere to be
addressedby carefulcollectionand analysisof empiricaldata.
The spiritof those timesbeforeWorld War I appears to have been more evangelical
about scientificresearchthanwouldbe commonlymade explicitnow.It is hardto imagine
anyone,whatevertheythoughtprivately, writingas K. P. did in connectionwithWeldon:
Butscience,
no lessthantheology is thefieldforpersonalinfluence,
or philosophy, for
thecreation
ofenthusiasm, andfortheestablishment and self-
ofidealsofself-discipline
Ifthereis to be a constant
development.... streamofmen,whoservesciencefromlove
as menin greatreligious
epochshaveservedtheChurch, thenwe musthavescientific
ideals of character...
Later K. P. writesof Weldon's'single-eyeddevotionto the pursuitof truth'.Despite or
maybebecause of thisquasi-religiousfervour,both K. P. and Weldon wererelentlessin
controversy.These fewremarksare,ofcourse,quiteinadequateto describemajorfigures,
in particularone oftheleadersofBritishintellectuallifein theearlyyearsofthecentury.

4. THE FIRST VOLUME

Aftereditorialson the scope and spiritof Biometrikaand an introductory essay on
biometryby Galton,thefirstvolumeconsistsof22 paperson specificbiometricproblems
or issues and fourpapers on methodologicalmatters.Therewerealso some notescalled
Miscellanea; the headingofcoursecontinuesuntilthisday. The firstand last ofthemain

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6 D. R. Cox
papers werein Germanand in latervolumestherewereoccasional papersin Italian and
French.At the end of the volumewerephotographsof embryosand skulls,a speciality
emphasisingthe keen interestin physicalanthropologyat that time and continuing
throughoutK. P.'s editorship.Later I thinkthesecame to be thoughtof by some as a
shade macabreforwhat eventuallybecame a statisticaljournal.

5. THE FIRST TEN VOLUMES

The generalpatternofthefirstvolumecontinuesup to WorldWar I. K. P. wrotemore
than90 papersin Biometrika in the periodup to 1915,fewof thembrief,and appears to
have been themovingspiritbehindmanymore.The rangeofappliedtopicsin Biometrika
is vast and takes in criminology, sociology,actuarialscience,botany,zoology,epidemi-
ology and many otheraspects of human health,and the discussionis in termsof the
intrinsicinterestof the problem:data are not used merelyas illustrationsof technique.
AfterWeldon'sdeath the emphasismoved a littleway fromgeneticalissues,and indeed
1906 was in some respectsa watershedin K. P.'s development.The stressin the papers
is to an appreciableextenton thecarefulcollectionofdata and on thefitting ofunivariate,
and occasionallybivariate,functional forms.It is noteworthy thatthestudiesare virtually
entirely observationaland notexperimental; thelatterwould,perhaps,have lenta different
slantto the workand, not least,to K. P.'s attitudeto genetics(Froggatt& Levin, 1971,
p. 17).
An implicitbeliefin much of the workis thatcarefulstudyof the shapes of empirical
frequency distributions is scientifically
important. This viewhas largely,thoughnot quite
entirely, disappearedin currentthinking, to be replacedby a concernwiththe effectof
real or hypotheticalinterventions. Anotherrecurringthemeis the analysis of binary,
nominal and ordinal data via an assumed relationto an underlyingbivariatenormal
distribution. K. P.'s ideas on thishave muchcurrentrelevance.
An interesting special case of recurringcontroversy is a protracteddispute(Pearson,
1911) withSir AlmrothWright, ProfessorofMedicineat St Mary'sHospital,Paddington;
AlexanderFleming,the discovererof penicillin,became involved as an assistant of
Wright's.Wrightis satirisedin George Bernard Shaw's play The Doctors Dilemma,
Biometrika and K. P. beingmentionedapprovingly in Shaw's preface.K. P.'s interestwas
part of his active involvementwith other studies of tuberculosis,in particularof the
possiblegeneticcomponentin susceptibility to thatthenverywidespreaddisease.
The particulardisputecentredaround the issue of the precisionwithwhichWright's
so-calledopsonic index,connectedwiththeinvestigation of tuberculosis,
could be meas-
ured.Wrightclaimedto have satisfiedhimselfthat the reason whyin his lab countsof
100 leucocytesgave reasonableprecision,whileotherworkersin otherlabs foundlarge
variations,lay in what he called functionalerrorsin the measurements of the latter,i.e.
essentiallyarose frompoor techniquein thelab. K. P. wrotethat'theday ofauthorityin
any branchof sciencehas gone by and we ask legitimately and instinctivelyforthe data
fromwhich this satisfactionwas extracted';what would K. P. have made of today's
elicitationof priors?He went on to ask forcounts on slides preparedin and outside
Wright'slab measuredby workersfromwithinand outsideWright'slab, a 2 x 2 factorial
in fact.Whilehe did not haveaccess to suchdata,he triedto reconstruct suchcomparisons
as best he could frompublishedsources.
Thereis littledoubtthatUniversity Collegewas at thatpointa majorcentreofstatistical

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 Thefirst100 years
Biometrika: 7
work,probablyby farthe most influential and innovativein the world,and Biometrika
the main avenue of publicationforthisstyleof work.
There were of course othernotable contributions to Biometrika,veryparticularlyfive
papersup to 1914by"Student",W. S. Gosset.His papershave,as has oftenbeenremarked,
an astonishingfreshness and modernity,stemmingperhapsfromhis concisenessand his
meaningful
abilityto obtain statistically resultswithsimplemathematics.In additionto
thewell-knownpapersintroducing thePoisson distribution appliedto bacterialcounting
problems("Student",1907) and the Studentt test("Student",1908),thereis a shortnote
on the effectof skewnessin sampling a population randomlywithoutreplacement
("Student",1909) and a paper in effectinventingthe so-calledvariatedifferencemethod
of timeseriesanalysis("Student",1914).

6. THE REMAINDER OF K. P.'S EDITORSHIP

In a sense the yearsafterWorldWar I seem forBiometrika an anticlimax.Many have
written about theintellectualand culturaldemoralisationthatfollowedthehavoc ofthat
war.More relevantly, perhaps,forour subject,thefocusofdevelopmentshifted fromK. P.
to R. A. Fisher;thisis not theplace to go into K. P.'s relationswithFisher,whichbegan
well and ended so disastrously.
K. P. continuedas editorof Biometrika and indeedwas correctingproofsrightup to
his death at age 80 in 1936. This last volumecontainstwo papers by him,one a rather
poignantshortnote (Pearson, 1936a) on intermarriage betweenJewsand Gentilesin
Germanyand theothera 25-pageonslaught(Pearson, 1936b)on R. A. Fisherbeginning:
'Wastingtimefitting curvesby moments,eh?'. It was this that led to the commentby
Fishermentionedabove.
While I have not read all the volumesfromthat period,thereseem to be relatively
fewernotable statisticalpapers and perhaps less of an air of excitement.In 1918 the
Danish statistician,K. Smith,wrotewhatis thefirstpaperon optimalexperimental design
(Smith, 1918), a verydetailed studyin the contextof polynomialmodels. The more
methodologicalpapers are virtuallyall about specificissues ratherthan what mightbe
called generalstatisticaltheory.
An exception, however,is Pearson's(1920) paperabout whathe called'The fundamental
problemofpracticalstatistics'; see also Pearson(1924). This concernedthefollowing issue:
havingobservedr successesin n independentbinarytrialswithconstantprobabilityof
success,what can be said about the numberof successesin m further trialson the same
system?K. P.'s somewhatmixedattitudeto Bayesianapproachesemerges.At some points
he assumed that the real world is such that the similarproblemspresentedto us have
parametervalues widelydistributedand representedby a flatprior.At otherpointshe
used an argumenthe attributedessentiallyto Bayes himself, thatthe categories'success'
and 'failure'were determinedfroman underlying continuousvariableby dichotomising
at a pointitselfdetermined by a similarrandomprocess.
In 1924 K. P.'s son, E. S. Pearson (E. S. P.) wrotethefirstofhis manypapers.One of
the earlyones addressesBayesianarguments;he argues(Pearson, 1925), presumablyin
linewiththefirstviewofBayesiantheorymentionedabove, thatthevalidityofBayesian
theorymustbe testableby suitablesamplingexperiments and he describesa numberof
thesein detail.

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8 D. R. Cox
7. A FAMILY TRADITION
On K. P.'s death the editorshippassed to E. S. P.; the ownershipof thejournal had
gone the year beforeto a charitabletrust,the BiometrikaTrust,whichcontinuesunder
the termsof K. P.'s will.I shall not writemuch about E. S. P., partlybecause it is hard
to writeobjectivelyabout someonewho showedme muchpersonalkindnessand consider-
ation overa long periodand partlybecause I see himas an essentially modernstatistician
needinglittleexplanation.At a personallevelhe was intenselyloyal to thememoryofhis
father,yethe appreciatedthat,in manyifnot all of the disputesbetweenhis fatherand
Fisher,Fisherwas in therightstatistically.E. S. P. gave me alwaysan implicitimpression
of total intellectualintegrity
combinedwitha lack ofpomposityabout it.
He is no doubt best remembered forhis role in the Neyman-Pearsontheory,but he
publishedwidelyon methodologicalissues, includingrobustnessstudies,outliersand
industrialqualitycontrol,in whichhe was a pioneerin theU.K., writingin particularthe
influentialBritishStandards InstitutionpublicationBS600, revisedand simplifiedby
othersinto theeven moreinfluential BS600R.
A noteworthyfeatureof his work, apparentfromhis earliestpapers and certainly
influencing his editorship,
was a likingfornumericalillustration as contrastedwithmath-
ematicaldiscussion.He was not,though,of the rigidityof mindto make it compulsory
forall papers to have numericalillustration.I thinkthe point was only partlythat he
wantedto be convincedofpracticalusefulness, but morethathe feltprocedureswerefor
the most part onlydeeplyunderstoodby seeingtheirconsequencesin specificcases. Of
course this attitudecould be regardedalso as reflecting his mathematicallimitations.I
am confidentthat he would have feltverymuch at home with moderncomputation
developments.
His interestin numericalillustrationand his realisationthat in those days statistical
proceduresneeded appropriatetables fortheirimplementation led to his devoting,with
his one-timecolleagueH. 0. Hartley,mucheffort to the editingof BiometrikaTablesfor
Statisticians,in two volumes(Pearson & Hartley,1954, 1972). In one sense this was a
reworkingof K. P.'s Tables for Statisticiansand Biometricians (Pearson, 1914, 1931).
However,therewas much new materialand, entirelycharacteristically, E. S. P. lavished
care not onlyoverthechoiceoftables,theirnumericalaccuracyand theirlayout,but also
and especiallyon a massiveintroductionof total clarity,virtuallya textbookin its own
right.While such tables are now largelyobsolete,theseones, alongsideFisher& Yates
(1938), whoseintroduction, also veryinteresting,is an intriguingcontrast,are landmarks
in the subject.

8. A SECOND GOLDEN AGE

The characterof Biometrika changedappreciablyin thelate 1930s.Two long memoirs
by E. S. Pearson (1936, 1938) assessed his father'slifeand work.The second halfof the
1936 volume containedHotelling's(1936) famouspaper on canonical correlation,and
theresoon followeda streamof more technicalpapers on the randomisationtheoryof
design,on morecontroversial aspectsof thedesignof agricultural fieldtrials,on outliers,
on robustnessof proceduresand on various special methodsof analysisflowingout of
Neyman-Pearsontheoryat a stagewhenthattheorywas highlyconstructive, beforewhat
some may see as its emasculation by overgeneralisationand abstractness.Indeed,
Biometrikaand what was thenSupplement to theJournalof theRoyal StatisticalSociety,
subsequentlyJournalof the Royal StatisticalSocietySeries B, representedthe forefront

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 Biometrika:
Thefirst100 years 9
internationally of researchin statisticalmethodsand theirapplicationin science and
technology.
Publicationof Biometrika took place intermittently
duringWorldWar II.
In 1955 thereappearedthefirstof a long seriesofpapersundertheheadingHistoryof
Probability andStatistics,
althoughoccasionalhistoricalpapershad alwaysbeenpublished.
The evolutionof Biometrikaover this last period can be judged best fromthe more
specialisedmemoirsthatthepresenteditorhas commissioned. It willbe clearthatby this
timetherehad beena totalchangeofemphasisfromthatenvisagedby K. P. and Weldon.
E. S. P. decidedto retirefromtheeditorshipin 1966,althoughhe continuedas Business
Manager fora periodand was activescientifically so long as his healthpermitted.

9. THE LAST 35 YEARS

In 1966 the Trustees,via the thenChairmanL. H. C. Tippett,invitedme to become

editor.Thereweresome administrative alterations,such as theomissionofbook reviews,
changesof associate editorsand morefrequentpublication,but therewas no deliberate
changeofdirectionor policy.However,muchto myregret, it becamenecessaryto exclude
paperson appliedstochasticprocesses.Happily,at about thattimetheAppliedProbability
Trustwas foundedat the initiativeof J. Gani. The trendtowards'heavier'theorywhich
has occurredin researchinto statisticalmethodsand theoryis unavoidablyreflectedin
the contents.An eclecticpolicywas followedover the philosophicalcontroversies in the
subject,so thatBiometrikawas one ofthefirstofthemainjournalsto reflecttheincreasing
emphasison Bayesianmethodsthathas beena featureofrecentyears.Therewas,however,
an attemptto publishonly papers likelyin the shortor long termto have constructive
application.
The remainingpartof thispaper is confinedto moreadministrative mattersand some
personalreflections.
Biometrika fromthestartset highstandardsofqualityofformat,and greatefforts have
been made to retainthishighqualityand a distinctive layout,despitenumerousvicissi-
tudes. That this has been achieved owes a great amount to the skill,hard work and
dedicationofBrendaSowan,thecurrentPublicationEditorwho has workedfortheTrust
since 1971. The demiseof hot metal compositionand its replacementby computerised
techniquesmighthave seemedin principleto lead to greaterflexibility,
butin practicethe
reversehas tendedto happen.Therewerealso in one perioddifficulties witha succession
of printers.This began withmajor administrative problemswithCambridgeUniversity
Press,leadingeventuallyto the decision,takenwithmuchregret,to move elsewhere.
The risein the last 30 yearsin the numberof submissions,fromabout 150 a year to
about 400 a year,also of course representsa large increasein administrative
burdenby
no meansentirelyoffsetby moderndevelopmentsin electroniccommunication.
The businessaffairsof the Trusthave remainedat and been givenmuch supportby
UniversityCollege London under a succession of business managers afterE. S. P.:
ProfessorsD. V. Lindleyand P. R. Freemanand, more recently, Mr R. Galbraith.One
of the Trusteeshas traditionallybeen a senior actuarywho has given wise guidance,
especially,but by no means only,on financialissues. A verydeliberateand, I believe,
successfulpolicyhas been maintainedof keepinghighqualityof formatand promptness
of publicationat a pricethatindividualscan afford;of course,as a charity,the Trustis
precludedfrommakinga long-term profit.
The Trusteestypicallymeet annuallyin June,set the price of the nextyear'svolumne

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10 D. R. Cox
and receivereportsfromthe Business Manager and Editor.They also appoint a new
editorwhenneeded.
The unusual arrangements forthe publicationand runningof Biometrika raise one or
two generalquestions.
Therewereessentially onlytwo editorsofBiometrika in thefirst65 yearsand onlythree
in thefirst90 years.Whileit is fairlyunlikely,underpresentconditionsofharassmentvia
bureaucracyin Britishuniversities, thateditorswill be foundwillingand able to act for
suchlong periods,thereare clear advantages,certainlyadministratively and, perhapsless
in long periodsof editorship.
clearly,scientifically,
The ownershipofthejournalbya charitabletrusthas massiveadvantagesovercommer-
cial ownership.As contrastedwithownershipby a society,thereare,however,thedisad-
vantagesof not havingloyaltyto a societyas the basis forlargelyvoluntarywork by
referees and others,and also ofnot havingan almostcaptivesubscription base. Thereare
also disadvantagesin runningwhatin some respe,cts is a smallinternational businesswith
minimalresources.For many years the collectionof subscriptionswas organisedwith
greatdiligenceand devotionby Jan Abrahams,workingon a part-timebasis. She had
been E. S. P.'s secretarytowardstheend ofhis periodofeditorship.Whenshe decidedto
retirefromthework,subscription collection,publicityforthejournal,etc.,weretransferred
to OxfordUniversity Press,but theTrustretainsfullcontrolas publisher.
A finalprobableadvantageof controlby a trustis thatthe editoris not in any sense
a representative ofa societyand therefore rathermorefreeto exercisejudgement,uncon-
strainedby formalguidelines,and to set a distinctive styleforthejournal. In more than
30 yearsof meetingsof theTrusteesI can recallonly one briefdiscussionof the content
ofthejournal,and thatonlyat a verygenerallevel.Neverthelesstherehas been and is a
clear routeformajor dissatisfactions on generalpolicyto be expressed.
The BiometrikaTrustdid formanyyearssponsorpublicationsotherthan Biomnetrika
itself,most notablythe BiometrikaTablesfor Statisticians. These, togetherwiththe sale
of back issues,providedadditionalincome that was used to subsidisethejournal. The
policyoftheTrusteeshas alwaysbeen thatall issuesofBiometrika shouldbe keptin print.
Both sourcesof supplementary revenuehave shrunkin recentyears.Since 1999 all back
issueshave also been available fromJSTOR.
No new publicationhas been issued forsome years.However,the Trustwas involved
recently in thegroundwork forthecreationofthenewjournal Biostatistics, firstpublished
by OxfordUniversityPress in 2000. This marks,in one directionat least,a returnto a
less totallytechnically methodologicalemphasis,in keepingwiththe originalinterestsof
thefoundersof Biometrika.
It can reasonablybe claimedthatpapersin Biometrika have playedan importantrole
in theexplosionof our subjectthroughoutthe20thcentury.The signsfora similarplace
in thenextcenturyare encouraging.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am very gratefulfor helpfuladvice fromProfessorG. A. Barnard,Miss Sandra
Cumming,previouslyLibrarian,Royal Society,Sir Peter Froggattand ProfessorR. L.
Plackett.

BIOMETRIKA REFERENCES
HOTELLING,H. (1936). Relationbetweentwo sets of variables.Biometrika
28, 321-77.

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 Biometrika.
Thefirst100 years 11
PEARSON, E. S. (1925). Bayes'theorem,
examinedin thelightofexperimental sampling.Biometrika 17,388-442.
PEARSON, E. S. (1936). Karl Pearson. An appreciationof some aspects of his lifeand work. I. Biometrika
28, 193-257.
PEARSON, E. S. (1938). Karl Pearson. An appreciationof some aspects of his lifeand work.II. Biometrika
29, 161-248.
PEARSON, K. (1906). WalterFrank Raphael Weldon. 1860-1906.Biomet7-ika 5, 1-52.
PEARSON, K. (1911). The opsonic index-"mathematicalerrorand functional error".Biomet7-ika 8, 203-24.
PEARSON, K. (1920). The fundamental problemof practicalstatistics.Biomnetrika 13, 1-16.
PEARSON, K. (1924). Note on Bayes' theorem.Biometrika 16, 190-3.
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