14 



JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION". 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



ABSTRACT OF MR. W. ADAMS'S PAPER. 



The object of the lecture was to afford a clear and concise view of 

 the nature and subjects of the science of Political Economy, and 

 to direct attention to the benefit and importance of its study. 



Political Economy is the science which investigates the facts 

 relating to the production and distribution of wealth, that is, of 

 things which are capable of exchange, or have exchange value, in 

 a given state of knowledge of the physical facts which affect this 

 production and distribution, such investigation being for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining the laws regulating such facts. 



Whatever may be a man's aim or tendency in life, he has certain 

 material needs which must be supplied in order that he may attain 

 any success, and which he will, of course, try to supply as easily 

 and conveniently as possible. This is the source of the laws of 

 Political Economy. In all except the very simplest modes of life 

 we find that men adopt a division of labour. Instead of every 

 man providing for his own wants, a system of commerce is estab- 

 lished, men taking up different branches of industry, and supplying 

 each other's wants by exchange. All things which are capable of 

 supplying some of the desires of members of the community, and 

 are therefore exchangeable, are articles of wealth. Being the 

 result of an essential need of mankind, wealth has a true position 

 in the normal condition of society, and Political Economy shows 

 that in such normal condition, when all men fulfil their true work, 

 society naturally assumes an harmonious organization for the supply 

 of the articles of wealth required. It is the primary object of 

 the science to ascertain the normal function of wealth, and of the 

 laws regulating its production and distribution ; but it is also 

 within its province to consider the confusions introduced into 

 society by the abnormal use of wealth, and to trace them to their 

 particular sources. It is, however, strictly a science, not an art. 

 It does not teach what remedies are best to cure the evils it can 

 detect. It is an investigation of facts, showing which are due to 

 health and which to ailment, what conditions are necessary for 

 the former, and what have been the causes of the latter. 



