Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Thornton 1802

Subjects:

Political Economy, Induction, Cultural Geography, Publishing

People mentioned:

David Hume , Adam Smith , Charles L de Secondat

Institutions mentioned:

Bank of England

Publications cited:

Boyd 1801 , Smith 1776

    Observes that 'the progress of commercial philosophy has been much accelerated by the writings of practical men of business' (172). Asserts that the personal knowledge of detail is incompatible with the habits of the statesman or speculative enquirer, making it necessary 'that the labour of accumulating particular facts should be separated from the more liberal task of generalizing these into principles' (172–73). 'In England, which is the native country of political economy, the works contributed by professional men, form a large deposit of authenticated facts'. Considers Henry Thornton's work to be particularly valuable in this regard, although the materials are not well organized and some of the arguments are 'embarrassed'. (173) Regrets that it has not been written comprehensively in the form of a 'general treatise' (174), and seeks to give an 'abstract of its principal contents' (175).