HUMAN FACULTY 281
and the individual estimates were distributed in such a way that it was an equal chance whether one of them selected at random fell within or without the
limits Of-3-7 per cent., or +2.4 per cent. of the
middlemost value of the whole.
The result seems more creditable to the trustworthiness of a democratic judgment than might have been expected. But the proportion of the voters who were practised in judging weights undoubtedly surpassed that of the voters in ordinary elections who are versed in politics.
I endeavoured in the memoirs just mentioned, to show the appropriateness of utilising the Median vote in Councils and in juries, whenever they have to consider money questions. Each juryman has his own view of what the sum should be. I will suppose each of them to be written down. The best interpretation of their collective view is to my mind certainly not the average, because the wider the deviation of an individual member from the average of the rest, the more largely would it effect the result. I n short, unwisdom is given greater weight than wisdom. I n all cases in which one vote is supposed to have one value, the median value must be the truest representative of the whole, because any other value would be negatived if put to the vote. If it were more than the median, more than half of the voters would think it too much ; if less, too little. My idea is that the median ought to be ascertained, which could be very quickly done by the foreman, aided by one or two others of the Jury, and be put forward as a substantial proposal, after reading the various figures from which it was derived.
This is a convenient place for speaking of an
