Dear list members

In the process of preparing a new edition of Richard Cantillon’s work, I am comparing the various 18th century manuscript and print versions of his writings. This is throwing up a large number of little puzzles.  For three of these (for now) I’d like to pick list members’ brains.   

1. In the version as it appears in Postlethwayt’s Dictionary, I have come across a couple of instances where the expression ‘in the long-run’ and ‘at the long-run’ occurs. For one of these cases there is a direct counterpart in one of the French manuscripts of the Essai in the phrase 'à la longue' ('after a certain time'). I’d argue that the occurrence in the French manuscript and the Postlethwayt text of identical phrases attests to their authenticity, i.e., that Richard Cantillon wrote them. However, the French print editions do not have the phrase. This is probably because the (unknown) editor of the famous 1755 publication replaced it (with 'dans tous les tems' ['at all times']). 

In both cases in the Postlethwayt version where the phrase ‘in/at the long-run’ occurs, it denotes something like "once all relevant factors have made their influence felt". In the context of Cantillon’s method of reasoning the phrase carries interesting theoretical implications. My question is whether anybody knows of any instances before the beginning of the 1730s where the phrase ‘in the long-run’ (or ‘at the long-run’) is used in an economic-theoretical context? I am less interested in other contexts, because the phrase appears to have been somewhat common in everyday English from the early 17th century onwards.

2. A similar query relates to the use of the term caeteris paribus. In the Postlethwayt version it occurs with some frequency. In the French versions (printed or manuscript) it doesn’t figure, although we do of course encounter 'tout autres choses étant égales', which expresses the same idea. I have come across one instance in Petty’s work where caeteris paribus is used and one occurrence in Mandeville (the former being more likely than the latter to have influenced Cantillon). 

Does anyone know of other uses of the clause in a theoretical context in the economic literature up to 1730? Can anybody point me to good discussions of the early uses of the clause?

3. Cantillon uses the term ‘altercations’ repeatedly, in both the English and French versions, to refer to the process of bargaining in markets. This word usage is peculiar since, as far as I have been able to establish, the term 'altercations' was already used, in both languages, to described heated or even violent disputes. But there is no real indication that Cantillon sees market bargaining as a particularly discordant process. Can anyone shed light as the possible reason for Cantillon’s singular use of the word ‘altercations’, possibly by reference to other authors who used it for the same purpose?  

Please let me have any suggestions on or off list.

Kind regards
Richard van den Berg

This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email
Security System.