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204 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK? 
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attempt of Mitchill to introduce a knowledge of the new French 
system.” 
n the light, however, of Mitchill’s political and economic 
interests, it seems not at all unlikely that he proceeded from the 
discussions of economic botany and agriculture to other economic 
opics as well. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by a state- 
ment issued in 1794 by the Trustees of Columbia under the lead of 
Alexander Hamilton and entitled The Present State of Learning 
in the College of New York. In this document we read that “the 
ncumbent of this Chair [Economics], who is a practical farmer, 
deals not only with the classification and arrangement of natural 
bodies, but also treats of a great variety of facts which form the 
basis of medicine, of agriculture, and other useful arts, as well as 
of manufactures; and that especial attention is paid to the sub- 
jects of gardening and farming.” - 
So far as the actual evidence goes, we must conclude that by 
economics Mitehill understood the technical economics of agri- 
culture. In view, however, of the facts recounted above, and 
especially when we remember that the instruction of Professor 
Mitchill was supplemented by that of Professor Gross, on the 
history and statistics of trade and commerce, it is a fair inference 
that the students at Columbia must have gotten, at the time, 
at least some smattering of what we nowadays call economics. 
The only other place where, so far as can be ascertained, 
economic subjects may have been taught during the eighteenth 
century, was the College of William and Mary. It has been 
asserted, in fact, that the teaching of economics in that institu- 
tion can be traced back to 1784. This assertion was made a few 
decades ago by Mr. L. E. Tyler, at that time the president of the 
institution. In view of the wide acceptance of the statement,’ 
he matter deserves a somewhat fuller discussion. 
The current doctrine is to the effect that in 1784, Bishop 
Madison, the president of the college, was put in charge of the 
departments of natural and political philosophy, international 
law, and political economy, and that thereafter and to the end 
of the century, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was one of the 
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1 By Mr. Wills, among others, in the article mentioned at the beginning 
»f this essay.