454 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



in the latter pursuits were termed the " sterile class," 

 as distinguished from the tillers of the soil who were 

 the productive class. But Quesnay and his school were 

 emphatic upholders of free trade, of free competition, 

 and of free international exchange. They combated 

 all the impediments and restrictions which the mer- 

 cantile system had imposed. 



Although this school of social doctrine has become 

 known outside of France mainly by its economic 

 theories, being also termed the school of the agri- 

 culturists in opposition to the mercantilists, it gave 

 attention to other social factors and interests. Among 

 these, through the original influence of Eousseau, the 

 problem of education occupied a prominent position, 

 being intimately connected with the belief in the 

 illimitable perfectibility of the human race. In the 

 sequel, however, some of the leading representatives 

 narrowed the meaning of education very considerably, 

 and prepared the way for .that conception of the 

 educational problem which for a long time ruled 

 supreme in French administration, and, by confining 

 it to mere instruction, distinguished it unfavourably 

 as compared with the great strides which were made 

 in the direction of popular education and lifting -up 

 of the masses in Switzerland and Germany, and we 

 may add Scotland during the same period. 1 



1 See supra, vol. i. p. 112, 258 n. 

 We have in French official litera- 

 ture on education, during three- 

 quarters of a century, an example 

 of the almost absolute disappear- 

 ance of the word "education." In 

 the place of it, we hear only of 

 " instruction " and " enseigneinent," 



of schools, primary, secondary, and 

 superior, of colleges and lyce"es, of 

 academies and the great university 

 of France. " Chose e'trange, c'est 

 1'instruction seule qui a pris depuia 

 un demi - siecle, chez un grand 

 peuple, le nom et la place de 

 1 "education." (Dupanloup, ' De 



