﻿164 
  Scientific 
  Intelligence. 
  

  

  Obituaky. 
  

  

  General 
  Francis 
  A. 
  Walker, 
  President 
  of 
  the 
  Massachu- 
  

   setts 
  Institute 
  of 
  Technology, 
  and 
  for 
  9 
  years 
  (from 
  1872 
  to 
  1881) 
  

   Professor 
  of 
  Political 
  Economy 
  and 
  History 
  in 
  the 
  Sheffield 
  Scien- 
  

   tific 
  School, 
  died 
  suddenly 
  in 
  Boston 
  on 
  the 
  5th 
  of 
  January 
  at 
  the 
  

   age 
  of 
  fifty-six. 
  So 
  large 
  a 
  part 
  of 
  his 
  active 
  and 
  varied 
  life 
  was 
  

   devoted 
  to 
  the 
  public 
  service, 
  and 
  the 
  leading 
  facts 
  of 
  his 
  career 
  

   have 
  been 
  given 
  so 
  fully 
  in 
  other 
  publications, 
  that 
  no 
  detailed 
  

   account 
  of 
  his 
  life 
  will 
  be 
  expected 
  in 
  this 
  Journal. 
  But 
  as 
  he 
  

   was 
  the 
  first 
  economist 
  to 
  be 
  elected 
  to 
  the 
  National 
  Academy 
  of 
  

   Sciences, 
  the 
  first 
  President 
  of 
  the 
  American 
  Economic 
  Associa- 
  

   tion, 
  and 
  the 
  author 
  of 
  numerous 
  widely-read 
  and 
  important 
  books 
  

   on 
  economic 
  subjects, 
  some 
  reference 
  must 
  be 
  made 
  to 
  the 
  scientific 
  

   side 
  of 
  his 
  career. 
  

  

  His 
  economic 
  work 
  lay 
  in 
  three 
  distinct 
  lines. 
  He 
  was 
  at 
  once 
  

   the 
  leader 
  of 
  an 
  economic 
  movement, 
  a 
  theoretical 
  economist, 
  and 
  

   a 
  statistician. 
  His 
  name 
  is 
  chiefly 
  associated 
  in 
  the 
  popular 
  mind 
  

   with 
  the 
  movement 
  for 
  the 
  establishment 
  ot 
  international 
  bimetal- 
  

   lism 
  by 
  an 
  agreement 
  among 
  the 
  leading 
  states. 
  His 
  attitude 
  

   on 
  this 
  subject 
  has 
  frequently 
  been 
  misunderstood. 
  He 
  had 
  

   no 
  sympathy 
  with 
  the 
  national 
  bimetallic 
  movement 
  of 
  the 
  

   campaign 
  of 
  1896 
  which 
  aimed 
  at 
  the 
  introduction 
  of 
  the 
  

   free 
  coinage 
  of 
  silver 
  by 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  alone, 
  but 
  he 
  

   followed 
  in 
  his 
  views 
  very 
  closely 
  those 
  of 
  Cernuschi 
  and 
  

   other 
  European 
  economists. 
  As 
  a 
  theoretician 
  his 
  most 
  important 
  

   contributions 
  to 
  the 
  science 
  are 
  his 
  Law 
  of 
  Wages 
  and 
  his 
  Law 
  

   of 
  Profits. 
  The 
  former 
  was 
  first 
  suggested 
  in 
  his 
  treatise 
  on 
  

   Wa^es, 
  published 
  in 
  18*76, 
  and 
  more 
  fully 
  developed 
  in 
  his 
  text 
  

   book 
  of 
  Political 
  Economy 
  published 
  in 
  1882. 
  This 
  theory 
  stood 
  

   in 
  direct 
  opposition 
  to 
  the 
  wage-fund 
  theory 
  of 
  an 
  earlier 
  period, 
  

   and 
  has 
  had 
  an 
  important 
  influence 
  upon 
  economic 
  thought. 
  His 
  

   theory 
  of 
  profits 
  established 
  a 
  close 
  parallel 
  between 
  profits 
  and 
  

   rent, 
  and 
  held 
  that, 
  just 
  as 
  rent 
  is 
  the 
  remuneration 
  for 
  special 
  

   advantages 
  in 
  the 
  way 
  of 
  land, 
  so 
  profits 
  are 
  remuneration 
  for 
  

   special 
  advantages 
  in 
  the 
  way 
  of 
  business 
  ability. 
  As 
  a 
  statis- 
  

   tician 
  Gen. 
  Walker's 
  most 
  important 
  work 
  lay 
  in 
  the 
  management 
  

   of 
  the 
  ninth 
  and 
  tenth 
  censuses, 
  which 
  he 
  developed 
  from 
  a 
  mere 
  

   enumeration 
  of 
  the 
  population 
  into 
  a 
  great 
  statistical 
  investiga- 
  

   tion, 
  reinforced 
  by 
  numerous 
  special 
  studies 
  of 
  the 
  principal 
  

   resources 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States. 
  ' 
  He 
  combined 
  in 
  a 
  rare 
  degree 
  

   the 
  logical 
  mind 
  of 
  the 
  scholar, 
  the 
  vivid 
  style 
  of 
  the 
  popular 
  

   writer, 
  and 
  the 
  organizing 
  power 
  of 
  the 
  administrator. 
  His 
  lit- 
  

   erary 
  activity 
  lay 
  in 
  many 
  fields, 
  and 
  many 
  departments 
  of 
  

   economic 
  science 
  will 
  feel 
  his 
  loss. 
  h. 
  w. 
  f. 
  

  

  