Five meetings of the International Statistical Congress have now been held, and it cannot be denied, that, with the vast increase in commerce, and in the social relations of different countries, they continue to grow in interest and importance. The first Congress, which may be truly said to owe its origin to the exertions of, and was presided over by, that eminent writer and thinker, M. Quetelet, was held in Brussels, in 1853; the second in Paris, in 1855 ; the third in Vienna, in 1857; the fourth in London, in 1860.