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* RIBOT. • 120 RICASOLI. He bcenme a member of the Left Centre, defemlcil Dufiiiire's policy, and iu his general conserva- tism was especially prominent as opposed to the colonial policy of the Kerry Cabinet. In 1890 he became foreign Minister in Freyeinefs Cabinet, a portfolio which he also held under Louhet. From December 1S!>2 to Jlarch IS'XS, he was president of the Cabinet, and on Faure's election, in 1895, was again called to form a Cabinet, which did not last the year out. After Fashoda, Ribot again nrged his conservative colonial policy of prudent waiting. In the Dreyfus affair, although he had previously urged all possible publicity, he successfully op]>osed the prosecution of Jlercier. Kibot made a special stud.v of English politics, and in 18ti6 wrote a Biographie de Lord Erskin-c. RIBOT," THfioDULE Aemand (1839—). A French psychologist. He was born at Guingamp, December 18. 1839, and was educated at the Lycee de Saint Brieurc and at the Ecole Normale, Paris, where he graduated in 1862, and whence he re- ceived a doctor's degree in 1875. After teaching for several years as professor of philosophy at various lyc6es, he came to Paris and turned to the investigation of experimental and physiologi- cal psychology in the histological and physiologi- cal laboratories and at tlie clinics of the insane asylums. In 1876 he founded the Revue pMloso- phiqiie, of which he became the editor. In 1885 he was given charge of a. course in experimental psychology at the Sorbonne, and in 1888 was called to the chair of experimental and compara- tive psj'cholog^- in the College of France. Ribot has taken a leading part in the recent develop- ment of psychology in France, adopting the best methods of both the German and the English psj'chologists, while at the same time his work has been characteristically French in breadth of view. Especially valuable have been his psycho- pathological studies and the analytical and com- parative treatment of distinctive types or fields of mental phenomena in his later books. Best known are La psychologie anglaise contempo- raine (1870; trans., London, 1873); L'h&ridH6 psychologique (1873, 5th ed. 1889; trans., Lon- don, 1875) ; Philosophie de Scho-penhnuer (1874; 7th ed. 1896) ; Psiijcholoqie allemande contempo- raine (1879, 13th ed. 1898; trans.. New York, 1886) ; Les maladies de la m^moire (1881, 13th ed. 1898; trans.. International Scientific Series, xli.. New York, 1882) ; Les maladies de la vo- lonti (1883, 14th ed. 1899; trans.. New York, 1884) ; Les maladies de la personnalit4 (1885, 8th ed. 1899; trans., Chicago, 1895) ; La psy- chologie de I'atfention (1889. 3d ed. 1897; trans., Chicago, 1896) ; Psyehologie desi sentiments (1896; .3d ed. 1899; trans., London, 1897); L'^voliition des idees generales (1897; trans., Chicago, 1899) ; Essai sur I'imagination criatrice (1900). BICARDO, re-kar'd6. David (1772-1823). An eminent English political economist, born in London. His father, a Jew from Holland, gave him an education in a commercial school in that country. When fourteen years of age Ricardo left school to engage in " his father's business on the stock exchange, for which he showed remarkable aptitude. At nineteen he entered the Church of England and was re- nounced by his father. Thrown upon the world without resources, he set up as a broker, with such success that he was reckoned a man of wealth by the time he was twenty-five years of age. It was about this time that he was at- tracted to the works of Adam Smith, and he be- gan to devote himself to economic studies, though he did not wholly withdraw from business life until 1818. Ilis first publication on economic studies was a pamphlet issued in 1809, and entitled The High Price of Bullion a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank Xotcs. This work created considerable stir, and received, as it were, ollicial confirmation in the famous Report of the Bullion Committee in 1811, in the drafting of which Kicardo is reported to have had great intluence. A series of pamphlets on financial subjects fol- lowed this first venture, and in 1817 appeared his Principles of Political Economy and Taj!a- tion, on which his fame chiefly rests. In 1819 he entei'ed the House of Commons, and while his diffidence prevented him from becoming a notable speaker, he maintained there a high authority upon all matters pertaining to finance and taxa- tion until his death. Ricardo exercised a greater influence upon economic thought than any other of the earlier writers except Adam Smith. His writings cover the fields of abstract theorv, currency, taxation, and protection, in each of which he contributed much that was of permanent value. In economic theory his name is associated with the law of rent (q.v. ), which he did not originate, but ex- pounded so forcibly that it became generally known through his works; the so-called "iron law of wages," that wages in the long run cannot exceed the minimum of subsistence, for which he is, however, no more responsible than Adam Smith : the labor theory of value, according to which commodities tend to exchange in propor- tion to the quantity of labor that has been ex- pended upon them. None of these theories re- ceives unqualified acceptance at the present day, although existing theories have been profoundly influenced by them. His writings on taxation are abstract, and throw considerable light upon the problems of incidence of taxes. The most complete part of his work is his discussion of currency. His is the first adequate and clear statement of the quantity theory of money. (See MojN'ey. ) The doctrine of comparative costs (see International Tk.^de) is one of his most important discoveries in the realm of inter- national trade. In addition to the works mentioned in the text, he w'as author of a large number of pamphlets on taxation, currency, and protection, and of numer- ous controversial letters to ilalthus, J. B. Say, McCulloch, and other economists. RICASOLI, re-ka'z(i-le. Betting. Baron (1809-80). An Italian statesman, born at Flor- ence. He was a descendant of an ancient Lom- bard family, studied at Pisa and Florence, and passed the early years of his life on his estate devoted to the study of agriculture, on which sub- ject he wrote a number of useful works. In 1847 he appeared in politics as a leader of the Moderate Liberals and an advocate of Italian unity, and was elected Mayor of Florence. In 1849 as a member of the executive commission he was instrumental in recalling the Grand Duke Leopold, trusting to the constitutional promises given by the latter. Ijcopold returned ac- companied by the Austrians, and Ricasoli, indig- nant at this treachery, retired into private life.