So much depends on the degree of advancement of the pupil, and on his particular environment in country, town or city, that it is difficult to suggest specific questions or topics. In general, the teacher should suggest the meaning of earlier development by constant reference to the present organization. Why have pedlers disappeared in so many districts, where do they still remain, and why? What is the proportion of retail and wholesale merchants in your city; how far has the specialization of wholesale trade progressed? Answers may perhaps be found in a business directory. The student who is competent to work out the history of business organization in his own town will not fail to get new light on the history of earlier development; and a report on the history of some particular branch of trade at home should be an excellent exercise to be worked out. Another exercise would be the history of the different forms of association (partnerships, joint-stock companies), and a study of the reasons lying behind the rise and fall of a particular form. The choice of questions and topics here must be left to the ingenuity and discretion of the teacher. The history of the currency in England [see Cunningham] is an easier topic. On the rise of credit instruments (bills of exchange, banking), the student will probably be best prepared if he is given reading, either in review or in anticipation, in some general manual which will enable him to appreciate the importance of credit institutions now, and will hence interest him in their origin. [Cf. Usher, The origin of the bill of exchange, Journal of Pol. Econ., Chicago, June, 1914, 22: 566-576.] An exercise which should be profitable and rather easy is a report by the student on the life of some English merchant. [See Fox Bourne, or consult the Dictionary of National Biography on names like Richard Whittington, William Canynges, William de la Pole, etc. Further biographical material is provided by Alice Law, Some notable “King’s Merchants,” Economic Review, 1902, 12: 309 ff.; 1903, 13: 411 ff.] If Bourne’s Romance of trade is available the student may prepare an abstract of chap. 1 (the Jews) or chap. 4 (money and credit). BIBLIOGRAPHY The student will find bibliographies of some of the topics treated in this chapter by consulting the appropriate articles in Palgrave’s Dictionary. Most of the best literature is foreign. The best references in English are to **Ashley and *Cunningham.