INTRODUCTORY

19

working  nevertheless  harmoniously,  perhaps
in  collaboration,  and  achieving  together  results
that  stand.  Little  serious  and  sustained  reflection ­
  by  men  of  judgment  has  been  productive ­
  of  results  which  are  wholly  or  mainly
ephemeral.
After  John  Stuart  Mill  the  progress  of
economics  bifurcates.  On  the  one  hand  the
analytical  method  was  perfected  and  on  the
other  hand  induction  and  history  began  to
play  a  distinctive  part.  We  shall  first  notice
the  improvements  in  analysis  ;  for  it  is
chiefly  to  the  broad  results  of  these  that  the
present  volume  will  be  devoted.  Finally  some
consideration  must  be  given  to  the  claims  of
induction  and  history.
Duly  to  assign  credit  with  regard  to  the
discovery  and  development  of  new  ideas  is
a  difficult  and  thankless  task,  which  will  not
be  essayed  here.  Suffice  it  to  remark  that
among  the  most  original  workers  in  connection
with  the  advance  of  analytical  economics
devons  and  Léon  Walras  stand  out  prominently, ­
  and  that  to  Dr.  Marshall  belongs  the
distinction  of  having  realised  the  far-reaching
application  of  the  new  ideas,  of  having  refined
them  and  brought  out  unsuspected  implications, ­
  and  of  having  presented  economic
phenomena  unified  for  the  first  time  in