In that work, Smith postulated the theory of the division of labor and emphasized that value arises from the labor expended in the process of production. He was led by the rationalist current of the century, as well as by the more direct influence of Hume and others, to believe that in a laissez-faire economy the impulse of self-interest would bring about the public welfare; at the same time he was capable of appreciating that private groups such as manufacturers might at times oppose the public interest. Smith was opposed to monopolies and the concepts of mercantilism in general but admitted restrictions to free trade, such as the Navigation Acts, as sometimes necessary national economic weapons in the existing state of the world. He also accepted government intervention in the economy that reduced poverty and government regulation in support of workers.

Smith wrote before the Industrial Revolution was fully developed, and some of his theories were voided by its development, but as an analyst of institutions and an influence on later economists he has never been surpassed. His pragmatism, as well as the leaven of ethical content and social insight in his thought, differentiates him from the rigidity of David Ricardo and the school of early 19th-century utilitarianism. In 1778, Smith was appointed commissioner of customs for Scotland. His Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795) appeared posthumously.

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(born May 5, 1846, Wola Okrzejska, Pol.—died Nov. 15, 1916, Vevey, Switz.) Polish novelist. In 1869 he began to publish critical works showing the influence of positivism. He worked as a newspaperman and published successful short stories before producing the great trilogy consisting of With Fire and Sword (1884), The Deluge (1886), and Pan Michael (1887–88). Describing Poland's struggles against Cossacks, Tatars, Swedes, and Turks, the novels stress Polish heroism in a vivid style of epic clarity and simplicity. The widely translated Quo Vadis? (1896), set in Rome under Nero, established his international reputation. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905.

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(born March 22, 1785, Dent, Yorkshire, Eng.—died Jan. 27, 1873, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) English geologist. A pioneer in the establishment of geology as a university discipline (Trinity College, Oxford), he named the Cambrian Period and (with Roderick Murchison) the Devonian Period. His grandnephew, the zoologist Adam Sedgwick (1854–1913), first established the evolutionary link between the annelids and the arthropods.

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(born Nov. 29, 1908, New Haven, Conn., U.S.—died April 4, 1972, Miami, Fla.) U.S. politician. In 1937 he succeeded his father as pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City, and built its membership to 13,000. Elected to the New York City Council in 1941, he became the first African American to serve on that body. In the U.S. House of Representatives (1945–67, 1969–71), he sponsored much social-welfare legislation, including a minimum wage act, antipoverty acts, and bills providing federal aid to education. Known for his flamboyance and his lack of concern for House decorum, he was the target of a libel suit and was investigated for financial misconduct. In 1967 the House voted to exclude him, but the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that the House's action was unconstitutional.

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(born Dec. 24, 1798, Zaosye, near Nowogródek, Belorussia, Russian Empire—died Nov. 25, 1855, Constantinople, Tur.) Polish poet. A lifelong apostle of Polish national freedom and one of Poland's greatest poets, Mickiewicz was deported to Russia for his revolutionary activities in 1823. His Poetry, 2 vol. (1822–23), was the first major Polish Romantic work; it contained two parts of Forefathers' Eve, a cycle combining folklore and mystic patriotism. Mickiewicz left Russia in 1829 and eventually settled in Paris. There he wrote The Books of Our Pilgrimage (1832), a prose interpretation of the history of the Poles; and his masterpiece, the poetic epic Pan Tadeusz (1834), which describes the life of the Polish gentry in the early 19th century.

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(baptized March 18, 1578, Frankfurt am Main—died Dec. 11, 1610, Rome, Papal States) German painter and printmaker. After studying in Frankfurt, he went to Rome in 1600 and began producing images of Italian Classical subjects, nocturnal scenes, and landscapes. He painted on small copper plates and executed drawings and etchings. He frequently depicted illumination by firelight, candlelight, and moonlight. His Flight into Egypt (1609) was the first painting to depict the constellations accurately. An important figure in the development of 17th-century landscape painting, he greatly influenced Dutch, Italian, and French artists. He died at age 32.

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(born July 3, 1728, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scot.—died March 3, 1792, London, Eng.) Scottish architect and designer. Son of the architect William Adam, he apprenticed in his father's offices. He traveled in Europe in 1754–58, studying architectural theory and Roman ruins. On his return to London, he and his brother James (1732–94) developed an essentially decorative style—known as the Adam style—that was marked by a new lightness and freedom in the use of the Classical elements of architecture. This style is most remembered for its application in interiors, which were characterized by contrasting room shapes and delicate Classical ornaments. Robert Adam's executed works, mainly remodeled interiors and exteriors of private houses, include Osterley Park (1761–80) in Middlesex and Kedleston Hall (circa 1765–70) in Derbyshire. Other works include the Adelphi development in London (1768–72) and the University of Edinburgh (1789). He was also a leading furniture designer; his style, popularized by designer George Hepplewhite, was meant to harmonize with his interior architecture down to the last detail.

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In the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, the parents of the human race. Genesis gives two versions of their creation. In the first, God creates “male and female in his own image” on the sixth day. In the second, Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden, and Eve is later created from his rib to ease his loneliness. For succumbing to temptation and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil, God banished them from Eden, and they and their descendants were forced to live lives of hardship. Cain and Abel were their children. Christian theologians developed the doctrine of original sin based on the story of their transgression; in contrast, the Quran teaches that Adam's sin was his alone and did not make all people sinners.

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