e
in which the science is treated in accordance with the historical method.
We may therefore venture to express the hope that this translation will
fill a place hitherto unoccupied in the literatures of England and
America, and fill it all the more efficiently and acceptably, as Professor
ROSCHER is the founder and still the leader of the historical school of
Political Economy. Were this the only recommendation of our undertaking,
it would not be a useless one. But a glance at Professor ROSCHER'S book
will convince even the most hasty reader that its pages fascinate by their
interest and are rich in treasures of erudition which should not remain
inaccessible to the English student from being locked up in a foreign
tongue.

The present translation has received, throughout, the revision of the
author, and should any imperfections remain in the rendering of his
thought into English, the blame is certainly not his, for his revision has
been most minute.

The three appendices have been supplied by Professor ROSCHER expressly for
this edition. As they are intended to form a part of the work on the
Political Economy of Industry and Commerce, on which he is now engaged, he
authorizes their publication in English, only by the publishers of this
edition of his principles; and only for the purpose of being added to the
present translation. He desires especially that their appearance in their
present shape should not in any way interfere with any of his rights in
his forthcoming volume, and that they should not be translated into any
language nor translated back into German.

The essay of Mr. WOLOWSKI, on the historical method in Political Economy
constitutes no part of Professor ROSCHER'S book, and neither he nor its
author, but only the translator, is responsible for its appearance here.
In it the reader will find a short sketch of the life of Professor
ROSCHER, brought down to the date at which the essay was written. The
translator has little to add to that sketch, all the information he
possesses in addition to what it contains being embraced in the following
lines from a letter received by him from the author in answer to a request
that he would supply the biographical data not to be found in WOLOWSKI'S
essay: "You might perhaps say ... that I have repeatedly declined calls to
the Universities of Munich, Vienna and Berlin, but that I have never
regretted remaining in Leipzig."

The acknowledgments of the translator are due