An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations · Adam Smith
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_Paper money_, the credit of, how established, 118. Its operation explained, ib. Its effect on the circulation of cash, ib., 119. Promotes industry, ib. Operation of the several banking companies established in Scotland, 120. Can never exceed the value of the gold and silver, of which it supplies the place in any country, 122. Consequences of too much paper being issued, ib. The practice of drawing and redrawing explained, with its pernicious effects, 126. The advantages and disadvantages of paper credit, stated, 131. Ill effects of notes issued for small sums, 132. Suppressing small notes renders money more plentiful, ib. The currency of, does not affect the prices of goods, 133. Account of the paper currency in North America, 134. Expedient of the government of Pennsylvania to raise money, 345. Why convenient for the domestic purposes of the North Americans, 400. _Paris_ enjoys a little more trade than is necessary for the consumption of its inhabitants, 138. _Parish ministers_, evils attending vesting the election of, in the people, 339. _Parsimony_ is the immediate cause of the increase of capitals, 138. Promotes industry, ib. Frugal men public benefactors, 140. Is the only means by which artificers and manufacturers can add to the revenue and wealth of society, according to the French agricultural system of political economy, 277. _Pasture land_, under what circumstances more profitable than arable land, 62, 63. Why it ought to be inclosed, 63.
_Patronage_, the right of, why established in Scotland, 340. _Pay_, military, origin and reason of, 291. _Pennsylvania_, account of the paper currency there, 134. Good consequences of the government there having no religious establishment, 332. Derive a revenue from their paper currency, 401. _People_, how divided into productive and unproductive classes according to the present French system of agricultural political economy, 275. The unproductive class greatly useful to the others, 277. The great body of, how rendered unwarlike, 292. The different opportunities of education in the different ranks of, 328. The inferior ranks of, the greatest consumers, 375. The luxurious expenses of these ranks ought only to be taxed, 376. _Persecution_ for religious opinions, the true cause of, 330. _Peru_, the discovery of the silver mines in, occasioned those in Europe to be in a great measure abandoned, 71. These mines yield but small profit to the proprietors, ib. Tax paid to the king of Spain from these mines, 85. The early accounts of the splendour and state of arts, in this country greatly exaggerated, 85, 86. Present state of, under the Spanish government, 86. The working of the mines there becomes gradually more expensive, 90. Low state of arts there when first discovered, 233. Is probably more populous now than at any former period, ib. _Philosophy_, natural, the origin and objects of, 322. Moral, the nature of, explained, ib. Logic, the origin and employment of, ib.
_Physicians_, why amply rewarded for their labour, 43, 44. _Physics_, the ancient system of, explained, 322. _Pin-making_, the extraordinary advantage of a division of labour in this art, 3. _Plate_ of private families, the melting it down to supply state exigencies, an insignificant resource, 178. New plate is chiefly made from old, 225. _Ploughmen_, their knowledge more extensive than the generality of mechanics, 53. _Pneumatics_, the science of, explained, 323. _Poivre_, M. his account of the agriculture of Chochin-China, 66. _Poland_, a country still kept in poverty by the feudal system of its government, 101. _Political economy_, the two distinct objects and two different systems of, 173. The present agricultural system of, adopted by French philosophers, described, 275. Classes of the people who contribute to the annual produce of the land, ib. How proprietors contribute, ib. How cultivators contribute, ib. Artificers and manufacturers unproductive, 276. The unproductive classes maintained by the others, 277. Bad tendency of restrictions and prohibitions in trade, 279. How this system is delineated by M. Quesnai. The bad effects of an injudicious political economy, how corrected, 280. The capital error in this system pointed out, ib. _Poll-taxes_, origin of, under the feudal government, 162, 163. Why esteemed badges of slavery, 362. The nature of, considered, 367. _Poor_, history of the laws made for the provision of, in England, 57.
_Pope of Rome_, the great power formerly assumed by, 335. His power how reduced, 337. Rapid progress of the Reformation, 338. _Population_, riches and extreme poverty equally unfavourable to, 33. Is limited by the means of subsistence, ib., 69. _Porter_, the proportion of malt used in the brewing of, 376. _Portugal_, the cultivation of the country not advanced by its commerce, 171, 172. The value of gold and silver there depreciated by prohibiting their exportation, 208. Translation of the commercial treaty concluded in 1703 with England, 223. A large share of the Portugal gold sent annually to England, ib. Motives that led to the discovery of a passage to the East round the Cape of Good Hope, 229. Lost its manufactures by acquiring rich and fertile colonies, 251. _Post-office_, a mercantile project, well calculated for being managed by a government, 344. _Potatoes_, remarks on, as an article of food, 67. Culture and great produce of, ib. The difficulty of preserving them the great obstacle to cultivating them for general diet, 68. _Poverty_, sometimes urges nations to inhuman customs, 1. Is no check to the production of children, 33. But very unfavourable to raising them, ib. _Poultry_, the cause of their cheapness, 95. Is a more important article of rural economy in France than in England, ib. _Pragmatic sanction in France_, the object of, 337. Is followed by the concordat, ib.
_Preferments_, ecclesiastical, the means by which a national clergy ought to be managed by the civil magistrate, 335. Alterations in the mode of electing to them, ib., 337. _Presbyterian church government_, the nature of, described, 340. Character of the clergy of, ib., 341. _Prices_, real and nominal, of commodities, distinguished, 14. Money price of goods explained, 19. Rent for land enters into the price of the greater part of all commodities, 21. The component parts of the price of goods explained, ib. Natural and market prices distinguished, and how governed, 23, 36. Though raised at first by an increase of demand, always reduced by it in the result, 314. _Primogeniture_, origin and motive of the law of succession by, under the feudal government, 157. In contrary to the real interest of families, 158. _Princes_, why not well calculated to manage mercantile projects for the sake of a revenue, 344. _Prodigality_, the natural tendency of, both to the individual and to the public, 138. Prodigal men enemies to their country, 140. _Produce_ of land and labour the source of all revenue, 136. The value of, how to be increased, 141. _Professors in Universities_, circumstances which determine their merit, 340, 341.
_Profit_, the various articles of gain that pass under the common idea of, 22. An average rate of, in all countries, 23. Averages of, extremely difficult to ascertain, 37. Interest of money the best standard of, ib. The diminution of, a natural consequence of prosperity, 38. Clear and gross profit distinguished, 40. The nature of the highest ordinary rate of, defined, ib. Double interest deemed in Great Britain a reasonable mercantile profit, ib. In thriving countries low profit may compensate the high wages of labour, 41. The operation of high profits and high wages compared, ib. Compensates inconvenience and disgrace, 42. Of stock, how affected, 46. Large profits must be made from small capitals, 47. Why goods are cheaper in the metropolis than in country villages, ib. Great fortunes more frequently made by trade in large towns than in small ones, ib. Is naturally low in rich, and high in poor countries, 106. How that of the different classes of traders is raised, 148. Private, the sole motive of employing capitals in any branch of business, 154. When raised by monopolies, encourage luxury, 253. _Projects_, unsuccessful in arts, injurious to a country, 140. _Property_, passions which prompt mankind to the invasion of, 297. Civil government necessary for the production of, ib. Wealth a source of authority, 298. _Provisions_, how far the variations in the price of, affect labour and industry, 30, 34, 36. Whether cheaper in the metropolis or in country villages, 47. The prices of, better regulated by competition than by law, 60. A rise in the prices of, must be uniform, to shew that it proceeds from a depreciation of the value of silver, 102.
_Provisers_, object of the statute of, in England, 337. _Prussia_, mode of assessing the land-tax there, 351. _Public works_ and _institutions_, how to be maintained, 302. Equity of tolls for passage over roads, bridges and canals, 303. Why government ought not to have the management of turnpikes, 304. Nor of other public works, 306. _Purveyance_, a service still exacted in most parts of Europe, 161. _Quakers of Pennsylvania_, inference from their resolution to emancipate all their negro slaves, 159. _Quesnai_, M. view of his agricultural system of political economy, 279. His doctrine generally subscribed to, 282. _Quito_, populousness of that city, 233.
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