Dr. Edwin Cannan has edited, "with an Introduction, Notes, Marginal
Summary, and an Enlarged Index," Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, 2 vols. (Methuen and Co., 218. net). Dr. Ca,nnan gives a careful account of the editions published in Adam Smith's lifetime (1776, 1778, 1784, 1786, 1789). It is from the last of these that the present edition is printed (Smith died on July 17th, 1790). It is a curious thing that modern editions have been commonly reprinted from that of 1786, and that Thorold Rogers actually, used the third, though he puts the fourth on his title-page. There is, it is true, no important differ- ence between them, but many minor errors are corrected. The great feature of the present edition is the admirable index. The principal items remain substantially as they were; but the minor references, which are, in a sense, the more important as regards the reader's convenience, are largely increased. Of the work itself it is needless to say anything more than that there never has been a time when its wisdom was more needed. One side. issue of the Fiscal question is the comparative cost of Excise and Custom taxation. The former Smith reckons (II., 380) at 5 per cent., the latter at "more than twenty or thirty." What the cost would be in time and temper when an elaborate system of duties on imports had been built up, who can calculate?
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