[798]His most curious book, perhaps, was De la Baisse probable de l’Or, a title that caused a good deal of amusement during the latter half of the nineteenth century, but which proved somewhat of a prophecy after all.
[799] Joseph Garnier, who must not be confused with Germain Garnier, the translator of Smith’s works, published the first edition of his Éléments d’Économie politique in 1845. From 1848 up to his death in 1881 he was chief editor of the Journal des Économistes.
[800] G. Schmoller, Zur Litteraturgeschichte der Staats- und Sozialwissenschaften (Leipzig, 1888). The expression will be found in his study of Roscher.
[801] A. Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution.
[802] It is curious that the Historians never refer to Sismondi as one of the pioneers of historical study. Roscher and Hildebrand never mention him at all, and Knies only thinks of him as a socialist (cf. Die Nationalökonomie vom historischen Standpunkt, 2nd ed., p. 322).
[803] Even List did not escape criticism at their hands. Hildebrand thinks that he was infected with the atomic views of Adam Smith and never showed himself sufficiently conscious of the ethical nature of society. “List seems to think that the entire subordination of private interest to public utility is dictated by custom, and even by private interest when properly understood, but he never regards it as a public duty rising out of the very nature of society itself.” (Hildebrand, Die Nationalökonomie der Gegenwart und Zukunft, p. 73.) Note the ethical standpoint of the school.
[804] See, among others, Max Weber’s articles in Schmoller’s Jahrbuch for 1903, p. 1881, and 1905, p. 1323. The methodological errors of Roscher, Knies, and Hildebrand get their due meed of criticism.
[805] Grundriss, preface.
[806] Knies is of the same opinion. He remarks that Roscher’s work simply means “a completion of historiography rather than a correction of political economy.” (Die Nationalökonomie vom geschichtlichen Standpunkte, p. 35.)
[807] Grundriss, preface, pp. iv-v.