Tables were the first way to print social and scientific data, before any other kind of graphics like graphs and charts. All the information about a modern society was recorded and published first as tables. Marriage certificates were written tables. Census results were recorded as tables, and later analysed in printed tables. All weather observations were published as printed numerical tables. Many kinds of reports to Parliament contained tables of data. Many of these methods were invented in Britain, because the government collected statistics about the population, and then published the results.