Excerpt from Southern Quarterly Review, Vol. 30 Speculation! It is a fertile and suggestive subject, calculated to attract at once the interest and attention of all. Our lot has been cast in those stirring times when speculation has become almost synonymous with business; when the whole duty of active life seems to be concentrated on the contrivance, realization, and reduplication of rapid profits; when the acquisition of large gains has become to every man almost a necessity, and the sole profession of nearly all, however varied the modes of its accomplishment may be; and when ingenuity, dexterity, and skilful combination, have superseded or outstripped industry in the great transactions of commerce. Speculation! It is the key-note of modem society; the open sesame of the chief mysteries of modem trade. It is at once the instrument and the explanation of that feverish avidity for sudden fortune which now rules the world, and of that deepening degradation of the multitude which throws such a sombre hue over the portrait of our present civilization. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.