ABSTRACT
In 1738 the RGexions politiqzres szrr les finances et le commerce was published in two volumes at the Hague. Though published anonymously it soon became known that it had been written by a Monsieur Dutot who was believed to have worked for John Law's Mississippi Company. No further information was presented about this mysterious individual. His dates of birth and death were unknown. His surname was spelt incorrectly as Dutot, instead of Du Tot, and even his Christian name was not known. Du Tot was an enigma even though he came to be quoted widely by authors such as Hume (1752, p. 49) and Smith (1976, vol. i, p. 317) during the eighteenth century.2
