Hourwich, Isaac Aaronovich

American statistician; born at Wilna, Russia, April 27, 1860; educated at the gymnasium of Minsk and the University of St. Petersburg. As a student, he became interested in the nihilistic propaganda. Arrested in 1879 on the charges of hostility to the government and of aiding to establish a secret press, he was expelled, without trial, from St. Petersburg; after the assassination of Alexander II. (1881) he was banished, again without trial, to Siberia, as a "dangerous character." Released after four years of exile, he entered the Demidov lyceum of jurisprudence at Yaroslav, graduated in 1887, and began the practise of law. To escape a second term of exile in Siberia he left Russia in 1890, and settled in the United States. He became a student at Columbia University, New York city, and graduated in 1893 (Ph.D.), when he became a lecturer on statistics at the University of Chicago. Returning to New York city, he practised law until 1900, when he entered the service of the United States government as statistician.

In addition to various essays contributed to Yiddish and other publications, Hourwich has written: "The Persecutions of the Jews," in "The Forum," Aug., 1901; "Russian Dissenters," in "The Arena," May, 1903; "Religious Sects in Russia," in "The International Quarterly," Oct., 1903.

H. R. F. T. H.