22 OCTOBER 1921, Page 24

Messrs. G. Bell and Sons have reissued in their "Standard

Library " Adam Smith's classic Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations (2 vols., 12s. net). Professor W. R. Scott contributes an interesting introduction, in which he shows that Smith had formulated his principles before he could have known anything about the doctrines of the French Physiocrats, though he afterwards had much intercourse with Quesnay and his fellow-economists. Professor Scott discusses the influence exerted on Smith by his intimate knowledge of Glasgow commercial methods, and emphasizes his originality.