722 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



who do not intend to study it to consider whether they have formed a 

 right judgment upon the work already accomplished by economists. 



The mental qualities brought into use by political economy are of 

 two seemingly opposite kinds ; and, simply because of this distinct 

 opposition between them, few persons combine them both, and conse- 

 quently few persons have achieved great success in the study. To 

 illustrate best the mental operations required, let me first recount 

 briefly the process followed in an economic investigation. Certain 

 phenomena are observed, and their accuracy ascertained ; an hypo- 

 thetical explanation, or a statement of the cause operating to produce 

 the observed phenomena, is made on the best possible ground known 

 to the investigator ; a process of verification then follows, wherein the 

 hypothetical principle is applied to other observed economic facts ; 

 and, if it explains the given conditions in all known cases, the law is 

 considered established — just as we proceed to discover a law in phys- 

 ics (although the economic law is not capable of quantitative accuracy 

 in statement like the physical law). First, there is observation, then 

 deduction, and lastly inductive verification, with a severe and exacting 

 standard. Or, to again use the words of Bagehot, we act as if a man 

 were arrested under suspicion of murder : a murder was known to 

 have been committed, and the doer of the crime has been suspected ; 

 and then, if, on resort to legal and just proof, the suspicion is found 

 correct, he is declared guilty. Likewise, when economic phenomena 

 are observed, the law expressing the relation between cause and effect 

 is suspected ; and if, on comparison with the facts, this law is wholly 

 substantiated — as it were, "found guilty" — it is considered estab- 

 lished. 



By the deductive part of the process, the logical and reasoning 

 powers are called forth in a marked degree. Hence economic study 

 needs, and in its processes gives, the discipline of the severer logical 

 and mathematical subjects. And many years of observation in the class- 

 room warrants the statement that, as a rule, he who enjoys and mas- 

 ters mathematical and logical work will succeed with political econ- 

 omy, provided he has to some extent also the other necessary mental 

 qualities. What these other qualities are may be seen by considering 

 that, in the inductive part of the process above described, an impera- 

 tive need exists for an honest, practical appreciation of facts, such as 

 is possessed by merchants and men of affairs, coupled with an eco- 

 nomic intuition, a faculty which is more or less innate, and not very 

 much, in my opinion, a matter of cultivation. The capacity to collect 

 and arrange facts is a book-keeper's function ; but the ability to see 

 through the confusing mass of details and trace the operation of a 

 governing principle, requires an intuitive regard for facts and their 

 causes possessed in a large measure hitherto by only a few men. If 

 this analysis be a true one, it will appear distinctly how it is that 

 qualities almost diametrically opposed to each other are necessary for 



