The Diicui Eireanach, an ancient Irish poem, describes the erection of a family cairn ; and the /Senchus Mor, a collec tion of Irish laws ascribed to the 5th century, prescribes a tine of three three-year-old heifers "for not erecting the tomb of thy chief." Meetings of the tribes were held at them, and the inauguration of a new chief took place on the cairn of one of his predecessors. It is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters that, in 1225, the O Connor was inaugurated on the cairn of Fraech, the son of Fiodhach, of the red hair. In mediaeval times cairns are often referred to as boundary marks, though probably not originally raised for that purpose. In a charter by King Alexander II. (1221), granting the lands of Burgyn to the monks of Kinloss, the boundary is described as passing " from the great oak in Malevin as far as the Rune Pictorum," which is explained as " the Came of the Pecht s fieldis." In Highland districts small cairns used to be erected, even in recent times, at places where the coffin of a distinguished person was " rested ;) on its way to the churchyard. Memorial cairns are still occasionally erected, as, for instance, the cairn raised in memory of the Prince Consort at Balmoral, and " Maule s Cairn/ in Glenesk, erected by the earl of Dalhousie in 1866, in memory of himself and certain friends specified by name in the inscription placed
upon it. See Barrows.CAIRNES, John Elliott, a distinguished political economist, was born at Drogheda in 1824, and died on the 8th July 1875. After leaving school he spent some years in the counting-house of his father, who was an extensive brewer. His tastes, however, lay altogether in the direc tion of study, and he was permitted to enter Trinity College, Dublin. He took the degree of B.A. in 1848, and six years later commenced as M.A. After passing through the curriculum of aits he engaged in the study of law and was called to the Irish bar. But he does not appear to have felt any very strong inclination for the legal profession, and during some years he occupied himself to a large extent with contributions to the daily press, treating of the social and economical questions that affected Ireland. The subject to which at this time he devoted most attention was political economy, which he studied with great thoroughness and care. While residing in Dublin he made the acquaintance of Archbishop Whately, who conceived a very high respect for his character and abilities. In 1856 a vacancy occurred in the chair of Political Economy at Dublin founded by AVhately, and Cairnes received the appointment. In accord ance with the regulations of the foundation, the lectures of his first year s course were published. The book ap peared in 1857, with the title Character and Logical Method of Political Economy, and did not, perhaps, receive so much attention as it deserved. It follows up and expands J. S. Mill s treatment in the Essays on some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy, and forms a most admirable intro duction to the study of economics as a science. In it the author s peculiar powers of thought and expression are dis played to the best advantage. Logical exactness, precision of language, and firm grasp of the true nature of economic facts, are the qualities characteristic of this as of all his other works. If the book had done nothing more, it would still have conferred inestimable benefit on political economists by its clear exposition of the true nature and meaning of the ambiguous term law. To the view of the province and method of political economy expounded in this early work the author always remained true, and several of his later essays, such as those on Political Economy and Land, Political Economy and Laissez-Faire, are but reitera tions of the same doctrine.
His next contribution to economical science was a series of articles on the gold question, published partly in Fraser s Magazine, in which the probable consequences of the in creased supply of gold attendant on the Australian and Californian gold discoveries are analyzed with great skill and ability. The general conclusions arrived at in these papers with regard to the effects of the depreciation of gold that finished manufactures would be on the average least altered in price ; that raw produce, particularly the portion derived from the animal kingdom, would be most seriously affected ; and that, on the whole, the section of the population most nearly concerned in the movement would be the class of labourers or artisans are highly interesting, and have been confirmed to a remarkable extent by recent statistical researches. The further infer ences drawn as to the international results likely to follow on the introduction into the several currencies of so large a mass of gold have not been borne out to the same extent. The facts were too complex to admit of accurate prediction. The articles attracted much attention at the time, and were highly commended by the most competent judges. A critical article on M. Chevalier s work On the Probable Fall in the Value of Gold, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review for July 1860, may be regarded as the sequel to these papers.
In 1861 Cairnes was appointed to the professorship of political economy and jurisprudence in Queen s College, Galway, and in the following year he published his ad mirable work The Slave Power, one of the finest speci mens of applied economical philosophy. The inherent dis advantages of the employment of slave labour are exposed with great fulness and ability, and the conclusions arrived at have taken their place among the recognized doctrines of political economy. To a very large extent the opinions expressed by Cairnes as to the probable issue of the war in America were verified by the actual course of events.
During the remainder of his residence at Galway Pro fessor Cairnes published nothing beyond some fragments and pamphlets, mainly upon Irish questions in which he was deeply interested. The most valuable of these papers are the series devoted to the consideration of university education in Ireland. His health, at no time very good, was still further weakened in 1865 by a fall from his horse, which inflicted severe injury on one of his legs. He was ever afterwards incapacitated from active exertion, and was constantly liable to have his work interfered with by attacks of illness. In 1866 he was appointed professor of political economy in University College, London. He was compelled to spend the session 1868-69 in Italy, but on his return continued to lecture till 1872. During his last session he conducted a mixed class, ladies being ad mitted to his lectures. His health soon rendered it impos sible for him to discharge his public duties ; he resigned his post in 1872, and retired with the honorary title of Emeritus Professor of Political Economy. In 1873 his own university conferred on him the degree of LL.D.
tion and publication of some scattered papers contributed to various reviews and magazines, and in the prepara tion of his most extensive and important work. The Political Essays, published in 1873, comprise all the papers relating to Ireland and its university system, together with some other articles of a somewhat similar nature. The Essays in Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied, which appeared in the same year, contain the essays to wards a solution of the gold question, brought up to date and tested by comparison with statistics of prices. Among the other articles in the volume the more important are the criticisms on Bastiat and Conite, and the Essays on Political Economy and Land, and on Political Economy and Laissez- Faire, which have been referred to above. In 1874 appeared his largest work, Some Leading Principles of Political
Economy, newly Expounded, which is beyond doubt a
