Serendipity led me to the University of Melbourne archives where there turns out to be a considerable amount of digitised material from the University’s history. I figured I’d take a quick look at turn of the century (as in 1899) economics offerings in the land down under. I’ve transcribed the lists of readings for examinations there in economics and related fields. I have even added links to all the items for our collective convenience.
The professor of history and political economy at the time was John Simon Elkington who had succeeded William Edward Hearn, LL.D. Hearn resigned the chair of History and Political Economy in 1873 and died in 1888.
Elkington was not really an economist, even at a time when “economist” was much more inclusive a term than today. Judging from the brief biographical entry for him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, he appears to have been less a gentleman and a scholar than a dirty old drunkard of the chair whose spectre might haunt some Victorian faculty club to this day.
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A Colorful Professor
John Simeon Elkington (b. Nov. 22, 1841 at Rye, Sussex, England; d. June 6, 1922 in Canterbury, Melbourne, Australia)
Elkington was appointed professor of history and political economy at the University of Melbourne 1879 and he retired “by agreement” March 1, 1913. His main field was constitutional history, though his teaching portfolio did include political economy.
“…he was an intense political partisan and a ‘Freetrader of Freetraders’. A gifted raconteur, he ‘interspersed the dry facts of historical research and economic argument with anecdotes and stories’ whose Rabelaisian quality had to be censored when women students entered the university… Gregarious by nature, he attracted interesting people: ‘he has known everybody and is full of anecdotes and incidents about the leading men in Victorian life’. Bankruptcies in 1892 and 1895 after speculating in land and mining, as well as his inordinate thirst, created problems for the university.”
Source: Norman Harper, ‘Elkington, John Simeon (1841–1922)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elkington-john-simeon-6100/text10451, published first in hardcopy 1981, accessed online 4 June 2020.
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From the University of Melbourne Calendar 1899
ARTS AND SCIENCE.
DETAILS OF SUBJECTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS TO BE HELD IN THE EXAMINATION TERM, 1899
POLITICAL ECONOMY—
Books recommended in addition to the various references to other works given in the Lectures: —
Hearn—Plutology.
Walker—Political Economy.
So far as treated in the Lectures:
Marshall—Principles of Economics.
Adam Smith—Wealth of Nations.
Additional for Honours.
Bagehot—Economic Studies.
Mill—Political Economy, Books I. and V.
Mill—Logic, Book VI.
Spencer—Principles of Sociology, Part II.
Spencer—Study of Sociology.
[p. 228]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DEDUCTIVE LOGIC—
The Course will include the following subjects: —The scope and definition of Deductive (or Formal) Logic; the Primary Logical Laws; the formation and characteristics of general notions; Terms, Propositions, and Reasonings, in connection with the questions and exercises in the text-books; recent criticisms and proposed extensions of the traditional logic; Symbolic Logic; and Fallacies.
Pass.
Books recommended: —
Jevons—Elementary Lessons in Logic.
Keynes—Studies and Exercises in Formal Logic, Parts I. II., and III.
Whately—Logic, Book III.
The Examination will include Exercises to test the Candidate’s skill in applying the logical rules.
Additional for Honours.
Veitch—Institutes of Logic, Part I.
Keynes—Studies and Exercises in Formal Logic, Part IV.
INDUCTIVE LOGIC—
Mill’s Logic, critically treated with reference to the views of other logicians, will be used as the principal text-book. In considering Books I. and II., prominence will be given to the Psychology of Judgment and of Reasoning; and Book III. Will be made the basis of a full treatment of the Logic of Induction.
This subject does not presuppose a previous knowledge of Deductive Logic.
Books recommended: —
Mill—Logic. [Part I, Books I-III; Part II, Books IV-VI]
Jevons—Principles of Science [Volume I; Volume II], so far as referred to in Lectures.
(Fowler’s Inductive Logic may be read with advantage prior to the study of Mill’s Logic.)
Additional for Honours.
Venn—Empirical Logic.
[pp. 234-235]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MORAL PHILOSOPHY—
Candidates will be expected to show—
(i.) A general knowledge of the History of Moral Philosophy.
(ii.) A critical acquaintance with the following works: —
Butler—Dissertation on Virtue and Sermons on Human Nature.
Kant—Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals.
J.S. Mill—Utilitarianism; with references to Bentham.
Herbert Spencer—Data of Ethics.
[p. 236]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SUBJECTS OF EXAMINATIONS FOR FINAL HONOURS AND SCHOLARSHIPS TO BE HELD IN THE FIRST TERM, 1900.
(2.) — SCHOOL OF HISTORY, INCLUDING CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY AND LAW, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Ancient History.
The History of the British Empire.
The Character and Method of the Social Sciences.
The Principles of Political Economy.
Constitutional and Legal History.
Books recommended: —
The books and references mentioned under Ancient History, History of the British Empire, Parts I. and II., Political Economy and Constitutional and Legal History.
Mommsen—History of Rome, Book I.; Book II., ch. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9.
Spencer—Principles of Sociology, Part V. and Part VIII.
Seebohm—The English Village Community.
Stubbs—Constitutional History [Volume I; Volume II; Volume III].
Lord Playfair—Subjects of Social Welfare, Part II., articles 1-7.
Edmund Burke—Thoughts on the cause of the present discontents, and the two speeches on America.
Cunningham—Growth of English Industry and Commerce (2nd edition). [Volume I (1890); Volume II (1892)]
Lecky—History of England in the Eighteenth Century. [Volume I; Volume II; Volume III; Volume IV; Volume V; Volume VI; Volume VII; Volume VIII]
Spencer—First Principles, Part II., ch. 12-17 (3rd edition).
The article Political Economy in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (published separately). [Vol. 19 of the 9th edition, article written by J.K.I. (John Kells Ingram)]
(3.) —SCHOOL OF LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY.
Papers will be set in the following subjects: —
- FORMAL LOGIC—
Veitch—Institutes of Logic, Part I.
Keynes—Studies and Exercises in Formal Logic.
Venn—Symbolic Logic.
The Examination will include exercises in Formal and Symbolic Logic.
- INDUCTIVE LOGIC—
Mill—Logic. [Part I, Books I-III; Part II, Books IV-VI]
Venn—Empirical Logic.
- PSYCHOLOGY—
Psychology of the senses and Intellect.
Lotze—Metaphysics, Book III. (Psychology).
- METAPHYSICS—
Kant—Critique of Pure Reason.
E. Caird—Metaphysic (Article, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Republished in Essays on Literature and Philosophy [Vol. II]).
- MORAL PHILOSOPHY—
Aristotle—Nicomachean Ethics.
Spencer—Data of Ethics.
Green—Prolegomena to Ethics.
- HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY—
The History of Modern Philosophy, from Descartes to Kant inclusive.
[pp. 252-253]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS TO BE HELD IN THE FIRST TERM, 1900.
A. — SCHOOL OF HISTORY, INCLUDING CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY AND LAW, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY.
The History of the Middle Ages.
The Practical Applications (as stated by the principal Economic Writers) of the Principles of Political Economy.
Constitutional History and Law.
Books recommended: —
Bryce—Holy Roman Empire.
Gibbon—Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Dr. Smith’s edition), ch. 49-71 [Volume VI; Volume VII; Vol. VIII].
Hallam—Middle Ages, except ch. 8 [Volume I; Volume II; Volume III].
Mill—Political Economy, Books III., IV., V.
Cliffe Leslie—Essays in Political and Moral Philosophy.
Herbert Spencer—Principles of Ethics, Part IV., and The Man versus The State.
Giffen—Essays in Finance.
Walker—Wages Question.
Bachelors of Arts who graduated before 1st April, 1896, may substitute this work for Constitutional History and Law.
Sir H.S. Maine—Dissertations on Early Law and Custom.
The following Articles in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica: —Equity, Fictions, International Law, Law, Treaties.
B. —SCHOOL OF LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY.
Any four of the Papers set for the Final Honour Examination in the same Term.
[pp. 257-258]
Source: University of Melbourne. Library, Digitised-Collections. University of Melbourne Calendar 1899.
Image Source: Professor John Simeon Elkington. Copy in the University of Melbourne Archives from Photo N. 4. Alma Mater, Supplement (April 1, 1896).