completing "absence of evidence..."

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Great work, Stephen. There's an interesting precursor in 1891 in GB.

1891 Live Stock Journal - Volume 34 - Page 408
[Begin excerpt]
May I point out to Mr. Fowler the distinction between absence of
evidence and evidence of absence.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      completing  "absence of evidence..."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Previously (6/27/2010) I noted:
>
>
> Subject: [ADS-L] "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"  (antedat=
> ed to 1895)
>
> The Glacialists' Magazine v. 3 pt. 3 Dec. 1895, "On the Occurrence of Scand=
> inavian Boulders in England" by Thomas Sheppard, p. 132 :
>
> Even if no moraine existed, it does not follow that there was no Ice-sheet:=
>  it has been remarked by Mr. Dugald Bell that "absence of evidence is not e=
> vidence of absence."
>
>
> On March 28, 2014 Erroll Morris wrote in NY Times "The Certainty of Donald =
> Rumsfeld part 4":
>
> 'The phrase "absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence" has been attrib=
> uted to Martin Rees, O.M., astronomer royal, former master of Trinity Colle=
> ge, and ex-president of the Royal Society.'
>
> I sent comments to this series antedating this phrase and also "unknown kno=
> wn," which he had back to Keats, 1817.
>
>
> Today I looked for the first "absence" phrase and "Dugald Bell."
>
> The latter is mentioned elsewhere in this journal but W.J. Sollas read a pa=
> per in April 24, 1895 and published in The Quarterly Journal of the Geologi=
> cal Society of London 51 (August 1895) p.367: "Those who treat the absence =
> of evidence as evidence of absence have asserted that by no possible proces=
> s can stones be introduced from the floor of a glacier into its substance..=
> .."
>
> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Dnjp.32101083531499;view=3D1up;seq=
> =3D519
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>
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