Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/41

42 is occupied with a list naming the officers in these institutions, with a minute account of their duties. As the chief text-book he recommends a work to be entitled "Velleus Aureum." This is a compilation giving a succinct account of the different ways of making a living, with especial stress on approved methods of becoming rich. An essential part of this work must be a carefully prepared history of trade. The great advantage of this educational scheme will be to instil in every one an "auri sacra fames," to the great advantage of the State, for all countries where trade and commerce flourish are rich. If such a reform could be carried out, "there would not be then so many fustian and unworthy preachers in divinity, so many pettifoggers in the law, so many quacksalvers in physick, so many grammaticasters in country schools, and so many lazy serving men in gentlemen's houses."

The authorship of the "Bills of Mortality" is discussed by McCulloch in his "Literature of Political Economy," p. 271. There did not seem to him to be any good reason for assigning the authorship of the book to Petty. With this conclusion others, such as Roscher in his well-known essay, John in his "History of Statistics," and Dr. Cunningham, have coincided. Professor De Morgan in the "Budget of Paradoxes," pp. 68-69, adopts the same attitude, and in a controversy carried on with Mr. Hodge in the pages of the Assurance Magazine he virtually follows the lead of McCulloch.

Briefly stated, the arguments against assigning the book to Petty are as follows: In his