GOTTFRIED

ACHENWALL (1719-1772)  , German statistician, was born at Elbing, in East Prussia, in October 1719 . He studied at Jena, Halle and Leipzig, and took a degree at the last-named university . He removed to Marburg in 1746, where for two years he read lectures on history and on the law of nature and of nations . Here, too, he commenced those inquiries in statistics by which his name became known . In 1748 he was given a professorship at Gottingen, where he resided till his death in 1772 . His chief works were connected with statistics . The Staatsverfassung der heutigen vornehmsten europaischen Reiche appeared first in 1749, and revised editions were published in 1762 and 1768 .