This is a slightly abridged transcript of a lecture delivered in Newcastle on 19th November, 1900, to the members of the Literary and Philosophical Society by Karl Pearson, F.R.S., Professor of Applied Mathematics at University College, London. Karl Pearson was a polymath, born in Islington in 1857, he studied Mathematics at Cambridge University, later Physics at the University of Heidelberg, and at various other seats of learning; he studied metaphysics, physiology, Roman Law, 16th Century German Literature, English Law and Socialism and became…