288 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK 
who had begun lecturing on the subject in 1825 in London, was 
appointed Professor of Political Economy at University College, 
ondon, in 1828. 
n France the instruction in Political Economy came a little 
ater than in England. Jean Baptiste Say began in 1817 to give 
so-called cours libre in an institution known as 1’Athénée, 
which organized a series of such public lectures in Paris. In 
819 it was proposed to create a chair of Political Economy at 
the Law School in Paris and an ordinance to this effect was 
in fact issued. But before it could be carried out, the ministry 
el and the next minister of public instruction withheld his con- 
sent because he considered Political Economy a dangerous 
opic which would probably implicate the incumbent in politics. 
n 1821, when representations were made to the government 
hat France was the only great country in which there was no 
instruction in the subject, it was decided to create a professor- 
ship for Say at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. In order, 
however, not to incur the risk of another defeat, the chair was 
alled one of Industrial Economy. Moreover, the Conservatoire 
as attended by what we should call to-day extension students 
ho came only in the evening. 
t was not until after the Revolution of 1830 that the new 
overnment decided to create a chair of Political Economy in the 
College de France, and nominated as the first incumbent, M. 
ay. When Say died in 1832, he was succeeded by Rossi, and 
wi by Michel Chevalier and Paul Leroy Beaulieu. This 
remained the only chair of Political Economy until the creation 
in 1864 of a similar chair in the Law School at Paris.? 
2. The Eighteenth Century 
In the American colonies the earliest literature on economic 
topics concerned itself, as is well known, with currency, taxation 
and agriculture.” The formal teaching of economics began at a 
considerably later date. 
Attention was first directed to the subject by two of the 
three leading thinkers in the American colonies, Jonathan 
Edwards, Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Johnson. Of these, 
! The above details are found in part in de Puynode Etudes sur les 
principaux économistes, 1868, pp. 354-359; supplemented by information 
kindly given to us by Professors Gide and Rist. 
2 Cf. Seligman, op. cit., ch. iv.