OF SOCIETY. 



453 



the second half of the eighteenth century laid down 

 the principal articles of a social philosophy which, 

 by the editor of Quesnay's Works (Du Pont de 

 Nemours), was termed the school of the " physio- 

 crats," from the principle upon which the theory of 

 production is based. This principle is that of nature, 

 the soil of the country. By its attaching paramount 

 importance to the cultivation and the cultivators of the 

 land, we see that this line of thought connects itself 

 with that of Eousseau. Both turn to nature itself as 

 the foundation of Society, but the treatment and the 

 results diverge into different paths. Eousseau, full 

 of poetry and sentiment, inspired his disciples and 

 followers with a true interest in the welfare of the 

 uneducated masses of the people ; they cultivated the 

 human rather than the natural soil, kindling that 

 enthusiasm for popular education which spread over 

 the central countries of Europe greatly under the 

 leadership of Pestalozzi. Disciples of the other school 

 looked more at the economic side of nature. They 

 studied the natural conditions under which its re- 

 sources could be profitably developed, attacking the 

 existing forms of government and administration which 

 had failed to utilise them. In doing so they indeed 

 went to an extreme. In opposing the mercantile 

 system they went the length of denouncing as unpro- 

 ductive all industry and commerce. Those engaged 



par la de Quesnay et de Turgot 

 pour se rapprocher d'Adam Smith 

 et de 1'^cole anglaise. II ne lui 

 etait pas possible, apres avoir 

 inanipule" toute sa vie les produits 



de 1'industrie, de leur refuser ainsi 

 qu'au commerce d'etre un facteur 

 puissant de la richesse." (' Grande 

 Encyclopedic,' article " Gournay.") 



