_Of the Addition made during the last Hundred Years by Ability to the Product of the National Labour. This Increment the Product of Ability._ [Sidenote ◆1 Let us now turn to the history of production in this country during the past hundred years;] ◆¹ I have already said something—but in very general terms—of what, at the close of the last century, the wealth of this country was. Let us now consider the subject a little more in detail, though we need not trouble ourselves with a great many facts and figures. The comparatively backward state of Ireland makes it easier to deal with Great Britain only; and the income of Great Britain was then, as I have said already, about _a hundred and forty million pounds_ annually. This amount was, as has been said already, also produced by Land, Capital, and Human Exertion, or, as we are now able to put it, by Land, Labour, Capital, and Ability; and according to the principles which I have already carefully explained, had the statistics of industry been recorded as fully as they are now, we should be able to assign to each cause a definite proportion of the product. Of what the Land produced, as distinct from the three other causes, we are indeed able to speak with sufficient accuracy as it is. It was practically the amount taken in rent; and the amount taken in rent was about _twenty-five million pounds_, or something between a fifth and sixth of the total. But the proportion produced respectively by Labour, Capital, and Ability cannot be determined with the same ease or exactness. There are, however, connected with this question, a number of well-known and highly significant facts, to a few of which I will call the reader’s attention. [Sidenote ◆1 And consider the enormous increase both in agricultural production,]