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全世界无产者，联合起来！
马克思恩格斯全集

第三十九卷

1863 — 1867 年

经济学手稿

中共中夹党史和文献研究院编译

人人仗圾社
 《马克思恩格斯全集》第二版是根据
中国共产党中央委员会的决定，由中共
中央马克思恩格斯列宁斯大林著作编译
局自 1986 年起负责编译的。中共中央党
史和文献研究院组建以后，继续推进有
关编译工作。
 凡例

1 ．正文和附录中的文献分别按写作或发表时间编排。在个别
情况下，为了保持一部著作或一组文献的完整性和有机联系，编排顺
序则作变通处理。
2. 目录和正文中凡标有星花＊的标题，都是编者加的。
3 ．在引文中尖括号＜〉内的文字和标点符号是马克思或恩格斯
加的，引文中加圈点。处，是马克思或恩格斯加着重号的地方。
4．在目录和正文中方括号［ ］内的文字是编者加的。
5 ．未说明是编者加的脚注为马克思或恩格斯的原注。

6. 《人名索引》、《文学作品和神话中的人物索引》、《文献索引》、
《报刊索引》、《地名索引》、《名目索引》条目按汉语拼音字母顺序
排列。
7. 引文的出处中标有 [P. ］、［ B. ］、 [M. ］、 [L. ］、［ Zh. ］者，分别为
马克思的《巴黎笔记》 (1843 年 10 月—1845 年 1 月）、《布鲁塞尔笔
记》 (1845—1847 年）、《曼彻斯特笔记》 (1845 年）、《伦敦笔记》

(1850一1853 年）和《引文笔记》 (1859 年）的外文缩写符号，符号后面

的罗马数字和阿拉伯数字，分别指笔记本的编号和页码。
 目录

前言．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 1 — 24

＊卡·马克思

经济学手稿
(1863 -1867 年）

资本论

(1863 -1865 年手稿）

笫三册

第三册总过程的各种形态………………………………… 5-1123
第三册 总过程的各种形态……………………………………… 7

第一章剩余价值转化为利润……………………………… 7-250
(1) 剩余价值和利润 .....................…........................ 7

[(2) 成本价格］...................................................... 55

［剩余价值率和利润率的关系］关于 1 和 2 。注释
结尾......................................................... 74
2
马克思恩格斯全集

(3) 不变资本使用上的节约．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 128

[(4) ］原料的价格波动...…...............…...…...…...…... 192

［增补］．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．;.............. 205

[(5)] 资本的游离和束缚、增值和贬值……………………… 208

[(6)] 流通时间的变化即它的缩短和延长（以及与之

相关的交通工具）对利润率的影响…………………… 244

[(7) ］利润（资产者如何看它）…..................…...…...… 244

第二章利润转化为平均利润.....................…...…... 251-338

(1) 不同生产部门的资本的不同构成和由此引起的
利润率的差别................................................ 251

(2) 一般利润率（平均利润）的形成和商品价值转化为
生产价格...................................................... 272

(3) 竞争导致一般利润率的平均化。市场价格和市场
价值超额利润 ............................................. 294

(5) 工资的一般提高或降低（下降）对不同商品的生产
价格的影响................................................... 324

(4) 资本家的补偿理由............................................. 331

对生产价格的补充说明…......…............…...…... 334

关于由本册第一章过渡到第二章的补充说明 ………… 336

［补充说明］中等构成的商品的生产价格……………… 337

第三章 一般利润率随资本主义生产的发展而趋向下降的
规律................................................... 339 —407

第四章商品资本和货币资本转化为商品经营资本和货币

经营资本或转化为商人资本……………………… 408 — 497

(1) 商品经营资本（商业利润）...…......…......…...……... 408

 3
目录

(2) 商业利润及其属性...…............……….................. 426

(3) 商业资本的周转。价格.........…...............…......... 454
(4) 货币经营资本 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 468

第五章 利润分为利息和企业利润。（产业利润或商业利润）。
生息资本 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 498-817

(1) ［生息资本］．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 498

(2) 利润的分割。利息率。自然利息率......….................. 521

(3) ［利息和企业利润］............................................. 534

(4) 剩余价值和资本关系一般在生息资本形式上的外表化…… 559

(5) 信用。虚拟资本 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 570

［增补]...................................................... 580

［信用在资本主义生产中的作用］……………………… 612
(I)............................................................ 618
(II)......................................................... 636

CUD ••• • • • ••• • •• •• • ••• • • • •• • ••• • · • •• · ••• • · • •• • •• • • •• • • • •• • •• • 649

混乱．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 687

[（ III) 上接本卷第 687 页］ ............….................. 715

［混乱。上接本卷第 715 页］ ………………………… 733

(6) 资产阶级以前的状态….................................…... 795

笫六章超额利润转化为地租…………………………… 818-1036

(a) 导论···························································· 818

(c) 绝对地租······················································ 847

(b) 级差地租······················································ 924

笫七章各种收入及其源泉…………………………… 1037-1123
(1) 三位一体的公式．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 1037
 4
马克思恩格斯全集

(2) ［关千生产过程的分析］ ……………………………... 1063

(3) 竞争的假象................................................... 1085

(4) 分配关系和生产关系 …......…......….................. 1113

(5) 阶级 ......................................................... 1122

注释.................................................................. 1127-1209

人名索弓 I ··· ··· ············ ········· ········· ··· ······ ··· ········· ··· 1210-1229
文学作品和神话中的人物索引…......…......…......…... 1230 —1231

文献索弓 1 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1232 —1266

报刊索弓 I •• ••···•··•• •·••• ••• ··•• •• •••• ·•• •··••• ·•• •·•••• ••• •·••• ··•• 1261-1269
名目索弓 1 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1210 —1356
计量单位和货币名称表...…......…......…......…......… 1357-1359

插图

《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》第三册第一章手稿第 1 页………………… 9

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第一章手稿第 4 页……………… 15

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第一章手稿第 101 页…………… 177

《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》第三册第一章手稿第 151 页…………… 245

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第二章手稿第 155 页…………… 253

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第三章手稿第 226 页…………… 379

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第四章手稿第 243 页…………… 409

《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》第三册第四章手稿第 283 页…………… 493

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第五章手稿第 352a 页 ………… 689

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第六章手稿第 511 页…………… 995

《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》第三册第七章手稿第 528 页 ………… 1039

 5
目录

《资本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》第三册第七章手稿第 470 页

（第 531a 页）．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 1047

《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》第三册第七章手稿第 471 页

（第 531b 页）．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．． 1051
 1

前 言

《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 38 卷和 39 卷属于同一单
元，这两卷收载的是马克思在 1863-1867 年期间写的经济学手稿，
时间跨度是从 1863 年《政治经济学批判 (1861 — 1863 年手稿）》完成

之后，到 1867 年《资本论》第一卷德文第一版付排稿的整理工作完成

之前的这一时期。在这几年里，马克思主要写成了三册《资本论》的
手稿：第一册《资本的生产过程》，第二册《资本的流通过程》，第三册
《总过程的各种形态》。这三册手稿按其写作时间被概括地称为《资
本论 (1863-1865 年手稿）》，其中第一册手稿留传下来的部分和第

二册手稿的中译文，收入《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 38 卷，
第三册手稿中译文收入本卷。
在马克思的计划中，这三册书的内容构成“资本一般”部分。在
1857 — 1858 年手稿（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 30-31
卷）和 1861 — 1863 年手稿（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第
32 — 37 卷）中，马克思把涉及“资本一般＂的理论部分只是作为他的
“政治经济学批判“总体系的一个组成部分来论述的。从 1862 年底
起，马克思由于在手稿写作过程中取得了一系列理论成果而产生新
的想法，决定先把“资本一般“这一部分写成独立著作出版，书名为
《资本论》'“政治经济学批判”则作为副标题。于是在写完 1861 —
1863 年手稿之后，马克思从 1863 年夏至 1865 年底写成了三册《资
 2
马克思恩格斯全集

本论》的手稿。
1863 — 1865 年手稿标志着马克思经济学研究过程中的一个新
阶段。第一册手稿的写作时间是 1863 年夏天至 1864 年夏天。这一

册手稿无论从理论的成熟程度来说，还是就叙述的系统性和著作的
结构来说，都已非常接近作为一个“艺术的整体”的《资本论》（参看马
克思 1865 年 7 月 31 日给恩格斯的信）。马克思在该手稿的基础上

整理成《资本论》第一卷的付排稿，并于 1867 年 9 月出版。第一册手

稿没有完整地保存下来，留传至今的只有最后一章即《第六章 直接
生产过程的结果》以及前面儿章的若干手稿散页和零星注释。第二
册手稿和第三册手稿完整地保存了下来，它们是在 1864 年夏天马克
思写完第一册手稿之后交叉着写的。马克思在 1864 年下半年先写
的是第三册前半部分（第一至三章）， 1865 年上半年则写了第二册第
I 稿和《工资、价格和利润》的报告稿，此后在 1865 年下半年写了第
三册后半部分（第四至七章）。
1866 — 1867 年，马克思专心从事《资本论》第一卷（即第一册）手
稿的修改和出版工作。 1867 年 9 月《资本论》第一卷出版后，直到逝
世之前，在《资本论》创作方面，马克思将主要精力用于修改第二册的
内容并为第二册写了众多手稿。与此同时，他不断地推进有关第三
册内容的写作和研究。这一时期，在马克思为《资本论》第三册撰写
的（或与第三册有关的）局部或片断手稿中，保留至今的主要有：
1867-1868 年为第三册开头撰写的 4 份片断修改稿（《马克思恩格

斯全集》历史考证版编者按照考证的写作时间顺序称之为第一至第
四草稿，其中第四草稿被恩格斯标为“第 II 稿“，第三草稿被恩格斯标
为“第旧稿”)，以及就剩余价值率和利润率、利润率的规律、成本价格
和资本周转、级差地租等主题撰写的手稿（上述手稿将收入《马克思
 3
前 言

恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 40 卷上册）； 19 世纪 70 年代有关剩余价

值率和利润率的手稿和札记（其中篇幅最大的是 1875 年的《用数学

方法研究剩余价值率和利润率》手稿），以及有关地租的短稿（上述手
稿将收入《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 40 卷下册）。 19 世纪

70 年代，马克思研究了俄国的土地所有制形式，以及美国和其他国
家的工业、农业和金融的关系。马克思还对西欧国家经济状况的新
发展感兴趣，并想把这些新发展反映到他的著作中。他在 1879 年 4
月 10 日给尼·弗·丹尼尔逊的信中曾针对当时的经济危机说：＂这

一次的现象十分特殊，在很多方面都和以往不同……因此，必须注意
目前事件的进展，直到它们完全成熟，然后才能把它们＇消费到生产
上＇，我的意思是｀理论上'。”
马克思逝世后，恩格斯根据马克思 1864 — 1865 年期间写成的

第三册手稿，并参考马克思后来撰写的其他一些有关第三册的手稿，
经过极其艰苦的努力，在 1894 年编辑出版了《资本论》第三卷的正式

版本。

本卷收载的马克思《资本论》第三册（即第三卷）初稿《总过程的
各种形态》，是《资本论 (1863 — 1865 年手稿）》的最后组成部分。这

部第三册初稿是马克思生前遗留下来的《资本论》第三卷的唯一全卷
手稿，恩格斯把它称为第三卷的“主要的手稿“（见《马克思恩格斯全
集》中文第 2 版第 46 卷第 8 页），并编号为“第 I 稿＂。
第三册这部初稿的写作，标志着《资本论》第三卷的结构和研究
范围已经基本确立，而以前各次经济学手稿中有关第三册内容的写
作，反映出马克思为第三册的理论探讨倾注了大量精力，说明这是一
个艰辛曲折的探索过程。马克思在写第一部经济学手稿 (1857 —
 4
马克思恩格斯全集

1858 年手稿）的时候，同时拟定了他的经济学著作的“六册计划”，规

定第一册研究“资本“，其中第一篇为“资本一般“，内容是揭示资本的
本质特征，即“每一种资本作为资本所共有的规定”（见《马克思恩格
斯全集》中文第 2 版第 30 卷第 440 页），不涉及许多资本的相互作用
如“竞争”、“信用”等资本的现实运动问题。马克思的 1857 — 1858
年手稿主要论述的就是“资本一般＂的内容，它分为三部分：“资本的

生产过程”、“资本的流通过程”和“两者的统一，或资本和利润、利息”
（参看马克思 1858 年 3 月 11H 给斐·拉萨尔的信，《马克思恩格斯
全集》中文第 2 版第 50 卷第 346 页）。这实际上就是《资本论》的雏
形。第三部分考察的是资本的生产过程和流通过程相统一的总过程
中的资本一般，即考察剩余价值在总过程中的直接表现形式。从总
过程来看，剩余价值已不再表现为由资本和活劳动的简单关系所确
立的东西，而是表现为由资本的总运动所确立的东西，表现为具有一
定价值的资本在一定时期内生产出一定的剩余价值。这样，利润就
成为剩余价值在总过程中的直接表现形式，表现为资本的结果，而资
本作为带来剩余价值的价值，现在表现为带来果实即创造利润的东
西。正因如此，在手稿中这一部分的标题叫做《资本作为结果实的东
西。利息。利润。（生产费用等等）》（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第
2 版第 31 卷第 144 页）。手稿还考察了利润变动的趋势，指出随着
生产力的发展，利润率有下降的趋势，表明了资本关系日益变成生
产力发展的秷桔。在这部手稿中，马克思虽然也曾谈到利润率的
平均化问题，但没有把这个问题作为重点。马克思当时说：＂这个
问题的进一步研究，属于竞争篇的范围“（见《马克思恩格斯全集》
中文第 2 版第 30 卷第 422 页），也就是说超出了“资本一般“应该
考察的范围。
 5
前 言

在 1861 — 1863 年手稿中《剩余价值理论》之前写成的《第三

章资本和利润》（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 32 卷第
408 — 502 页）这部分中，马克思的理论有了进一步的推进。除了利

润理论和利润率趋向下降的理论，马克思还把平均利润问题纳入“资
本一般＂的考察范围，作为有机组成部分进行了较为系统的论述。手
稿明确区分了剩余价值转化为利润和利润转化为平均利润，说明了
两者的内在联系。手稿把剩余价值转化为利润叫做“第一种转化“,
把利润转化为平均利润叫做“第二种转化”；两者的区别在于，前者

“转化是形式上的“，后者“转化同时是物质上的“，即它改变了在利润
形式上表现出来的剩余价值的绝对量。手稿指出，“在第一种转化的
基础上，发生了第二种转化”;“第二种转化是第一种转化的必然结
果，而第一种转化是由资本本身的性质造成的”（见《马克思恩格斯全
集》中文第 2 版第 32 卷第 442 、 446 — 447 页）。同时，手稿还说明了

为什么应把对平均利润的最重要的一般要素的考察纳入《资本和利
润》这一部分中的理由：＂一般说来，在资本的不同生产部门中利润率
不同，而不是相同的情况下，所谈的只能是平均利润率。”手稿接着指
出：”对这一点的更详尽的考察属于论竞争的那一章。但是在这里仍
然应该说明一些最重要的一般要素。”（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文
第 2 版第 32 卷第 438 页）这表明马克思已经认识到，平均利润问题
虽然涉及许多资本的相互作用，因而只能在论述竞争的篇章中详细
考察，但是，平均利润，而不是利润才是在实际形态上、经验形态上的
利润，因而在论述“资本一般＂的部分中也必须对它的一些最重要的
一般要素予以说明。马克思进一步说明了，对平均利润和利润率下
降规律的考察，虽然都涉及竞争，但并没有超出“资本一般＂的考察范
围。他指出：＂从资本家阶级的总资本来看，平均利润率无非就是总
 6
马克思恩格斯全集

剩余价值与总资本之比，并且是按这个总资本来计算的；同时可以看
到，总剩余价值同总资本之比，恰好相当于利润——从而利润率
同单个资本之比，因为利润只是被看作形式上变化了的剩余价值。
这样，我们又有了牢靠的基础，不必考虑许多资本的竞争，一般规律
就可以从以上所阐述的资本的一般性质中直接得出来……这个规律
是政治经济学的最重要的规律，即：利润率在资本主义生产进程中有
下降的趋势。”（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 32 卷第 450

页）既然不仅剩余价值转化为利润，而且利润转化为平均利润，都属
于对剩余价值在总过程中的直接表现形式的考察，那么对这两种转
化的论述也就没有超出“资本一般＂的考察范围。这里虽然已涉及竞
争，但只是在考察“资本一般”所必须的限度内论述竞争。这样一来，
总过程中的“资本一般“概念就清晰完整地显现出来，它分为三个基
本章，即：剩余价值转化为利润；利润转化为平均利润；利润率趋向
下降。
1861 — 1863 年手稿中《剩余价值理论》部分的写作，使《资本和
利润》这一部分中阐述的理论得到了进一步扩展。在《剩余价值理
论》部分的考察中，马克思指出资产阶级经济学家存在着重大的理论
缺陷，他们把价值和价值的各种转化形式混淆起来，把纯粹形态的剩
余价值和它的各种特殊形式等同起来，而没有对它们加以明确的区

分。因此，他们的体系必然出现一系列谬误，甚至导致了“坚持“劳动
价值理论的古典经济学的崩溃。马克思面临的任务是对古典经济学
的基础部分开始加以考察，然后一步步地把这些关系从源头上解释
清楚。通过对李嘉图理论的分析批判，马克思制定出生产价格理论

这一中间环节；通过这一中间环节，马克思进一步用价值理论和剩余
价值理论说明了剩余价值在资本的现实运动中所采取的各种转化形
 前

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7

式：产业利润、商业利润、利息、地租等等。马克思认识到，在发达的
资本主义条件下，现实的价格围绕着上下波动的基础，已不再是价值
本身，而是生产价格。马克思证明生产价格是价值的原则变形，但不
能把它和价值直接等同起来。资产阶级古典经济学由于把它们直接
等同起来，所以否定绝对地租的存在。但绝对地租的存在是客观事
实，马克思正是通过生产价格和价值之间的差别才科学地制定出绝
对地租理论。接着，马克思又通过生产价格这一中间环节制定了商
业资本和生息资本理论，等等。马克思认识到，所有这些形式，都可
以在价值规律的基础上得到科学的说明，它们都应成为《资本和利
润》的组成部分，应当纳入《资本和利润》的论述中；这就清晰地表明，

他实际上放弃了原来设想的把“资本一般”和它的各种现实形式严格
区别开来的论述框架，认识到如果把价值和剩余价值在资本主义竞
争中如何实现这一点完全撇开，那么，对它们的论述就不可能做到全
面完整。同样也可以说，对平均利润的分析，如果只停留在产业资本
上，也就是说，如果不考虑利润分割为产业利润和商业利润以及分割
为利息和企业利润，不考虑剩余价值在农业中的各种特殊形式（级差
地租和绝对地租），那么，这种分析也不可能做到全面完整。马克思
认识到，所有这些剩余价值的转化形式都应在论述资本的本质的第
二部分（即第一分册之后的《资本一般》）中加以说明。《剩余价值理
论》及其后取得的理论成果，使《资本和利润》这部分的原有框架进一
步扩大了，它不仅包括剩余价值在总过程中的抽象形式，而且包括它
的各种具体的转化形式。这样，马克思就制定了广义的剩余价值理
论，并相应地把这一部分的标题改为《总过程的各种形态》。
. 1861-1863 年手稿中，特别是《剩余价值理论》中取得的理论成
果，使马克思从 1862 年底起决定把他的经济学著作以《资本论》为书
 8
马克思恩格斯全集

名单独出版。与此同时，他先后拟订了第三册和第一册的提纲。提
纲既是对已有成果的概括和系统化，也是下一步写作的起点。第三
册（当时称第三篇）的提纲共 12 项（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2
版第 36 卷第 312 页）如下：
“第三篇《资本和利润》分为：
(1) 剩余价值转化为利润。不同于剩余价值率的利润率。

(2) 利润转化为平均利润。一般利润率的形成。价值转化为生
产价格。
(3) 亚·斯密和李嘉图关于利润和生产价格的理论。
(4) 地租（价值和生产价格的区别的例解）。

(5) 所谓李嘉图地租规律的历史。

(6) 利润率下降的规律。亚·斯密、李嘉图、凯里。
(7) 利润理论。

（问题：是不是还应该把西斯蒙第和马尔萨斯包括在《剩余价值
理论》里？）

(8) 利润分为产业利润和利息。商业资本。货币资本。

(9) 收入及其源泉。这里也包括生产过程和分配过程之间的关
系问题。

(10) 资本主义生产总过程中货币的回流运动。
(11) 庸俗经济学。

(12) 结论。《资本和雇佣劳动》。”

马克思撰写的第三册初稿，基本上就是以这个提纲为依据的，但
写作中有局部的改动。（一）这时马克思已决定在三册理论部分之
后，增加一册论述政治经济学史的著作，于是提纲中原来计划分别写
的涉及理论史的各点（第 3 、 5 、 7 、 11 点）都不再写了。（二）关千地租
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的理论移动了位置。马克思最初并不打算把地租理论的考察放在
“资本一般”部分，因为他设计的“六册计划”中有专门的“土地所有

制”一册。但在《剩余价值理论》中制定出地租理论以后，马克思认为
地租理论可以作为生产价格理论的＂例解“，所以在提纲中把它放在
了论述利润和平均利润的章节之后。但是在实际写作过程中，马克
思在利润和平均利润这两章之后，接着写了平均利润率趋向下降的
一章。马克思早在 1861-1863 年手稿写作过程中就已认识到，平
均利润率趋向下降的规律揭示了由产业资本构成的总资本的价值增
殖程度的发展趋势。这一章和利润及平均利润的两章一样，应属于
第三册的三个基本章节，是第一个层次的问题，而地租应视为社会剩
余价值在各资本家集团之间分配的问题，这显然是第二位的过程，因
而是第二个层次的问题。这样，马克思就把有关地租理论的章节移
到了商业资本和生息资本之后论述。（三）第二个层次的各章也略有
调整。马克思在写完第一个层次的三章之后，没有像原来计划的那
样接着论述利息，也没有把利息和商业利润放在同一章中论述，而是
把它们分开，因为它们在平均利润率形成过程中起着不同的作用。
马克思还调整了它们的先后顺序，即先论述商业资本和商业利润，再
在下一章论述生息资本和利息。马克思也没有再写提纲中的第 10
项“资本主义生产总过程中货币的回流运动“，但将 1861 — 1863 年
手稿中的相关成果吸收进本手稿的第四章。第 12 项则并入了《收入

及其源泉》中作为最后一节。这样，马克思写成的第三册主要手稿就
由七章组成。后来恩格斯把第三册正式编成《资本论》第三卷出版时
就是以手稿的这七章为基础，把每一章编为一篇，下设若千章，全卷
共编成七篇五十二章。
手稿第一章一开始，除了开篇简要说明第三册的研究对象的一
10 马克思恩格斯全集

小段文字，论述的是剩余价值和利润之间的关系，分析了剩余价值率
和利润率之间的关系可能发生的各种变化。马克思一再试图用图式
的方式概括这些变化的特征，找出剩余价值率和利润率关系的规律。
分析越来越细，但没有分析到底。对此，马克思写道：”在对这些情况
进行最后整理时，只需挑选出合理的部分。当然，对于研究本身来
说，在所有这些细节上进行探讨是必要的，但对于读者来说就不是必
要的了。”（见本卷第 94 页）恩格斯在编辑正式版本时，第一篇第一章
只有开篇第一段利用了主要手稿，其他的文字则采自马克思后来有

关第一章的两个片断修改稿（第 ill 稿和第 II 稿）。在编辑正式版第一

篇第三章时，恩格斯对马克思本手稿中有关剩余价值率和利润率的
关系的论述以及马克思 1875 年用数学方法研究剩余价值率和利润
率的手稿（数学家赛·穆尔对该手稿作了摘要）作了大幅度的压缩和

提炼。本手稿第一章的第 6 节，只有一个标题“流通时间的变化即它
的缩短和延长（以及与之相关的交通工具）对利润率的影响”（见本卷
第 244 页），但没有写内容，因为当时第二册有关资本流通的手稿还
没有写，后来写完第二册手稿后也没有补写这一节。正式版中的相
关内容（第一篇第四章《周转对利润率的影响》）是恩格斯补写的。本
手稿第 3 节《不变资本使用上的节约》和第 4 节《原料的价格波动》，

更具有明显的草稿性质，包含有大量的实际材料。马克思在第 3 节
中引用了工厂视察员的许多报告材料，揭露工厂主资本家为了节省
成本，往往拒绝在危险的机器上安装防护设备，造成工伤事故频发。
手稿中有的材料还包含一系列有关提高生产效率的科技成果的论
述。恩格斯在编辑正式版第三卷时，对这些材料作了较大幅度的
删减。
手稿第二章论述利润向平均利润的转化。马克思在写作经济学
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11

手稿时，往往不是按既定顺序来写，而是先写刚刚考虑好的主要问
题，然后再写比较熟悉的问题。据考证，马克思在写第三册的手稿
时，很可能首先写的就是关千平均利润和生产价格的第二章，然后才
写的第一章和第三章。这个理论是在 1861 — 1863 年手稿中制定
的，这是马克思在理论上的伟大创举，而资产阶级古典经济学家正是
由于不能解决这个问题而导致了他们理论的破产。在本手稿中，马
克思对他所取得的理论成果作了正面系统的论述。马克思指出，资
本主义发展达到一定高度后，商品价值就转化为生产价格，而价值转
化为生产价格以平均利润率的形成为前提。平均利润率是由于部门
之间的竞争而形成的，马克思详细论述了一个生产部门范围内的竞
争和各生产部门之间的竞争，前者使个别价值形成市场价值，后者则
使利润平均化而形成生产价格。马克思说：＂求出不同生产部门的不
同利润率的平均数，把这个平均利润加到不同生产部门的成本价格
上，由此形成的价格，就是生产价格。”（见本卷第 276 页）马克思证
明，平均利润和生产价格并不否定价值规律，它们不过是利润和价值
的转化形式。马克思通过平均利润的论证得出一个重要结论：＂每一
单个资本家，同每一个特殊生产部门的资本家总体一样，参与总资本
对工人阶级的整个剥削，并参与决定这个剥削的程度，这不只是出于
一般的阶级同情，而且也是出于直接的经济利益，因为在其他一切条
件……已定的前提下，平均利润……取决于总资本对总劳动的剥削
程度。”（见本卷第 321 页）

手稿第三章论述一般利润率趋向下降的规律。对这个问题的阐
述也是马克思的重要理论成果。这个规律揭示了资本主义的深刻矛
盾，反映了涉及资本主义发展前途和命运的重大问题。早在 1857-
1858 年手稿中，马克思就曾结合分析斯密和李嘉图等人的论点，对
12 马克思恩格斯全集

这个规律以及起反作用的因素作出了最初的论述。当时他写道：＂这
从每一方面来说都是现代政治经济学的最重要的规律，是理解最困
难的关系的最本质的规律。从历史的观点来看，这是最重要的规律。
这一规律虽然十分简单，可是直到现在还没有人能理解，更没有被自
觉地表述出来。”（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 31 卷第 148

页）在 1861 — 1863 年手稿中，马克思对这个问题作了进一步的分

析。在本手稿中马克思把这个问题突出出来，全面系统地论述了这
个规律的内部矛盾。马克思说：＂一般利润率日益下降的趋势，只
是……劳动的社会生产力的日益发展在资本主义生产方式下所特有
的表现。”（见本卷第 341 页）因为随着资本主义生产的发展，资本家
为追逐利润而不断提高劳动生产率，结果资本推动的活劳动越来越
相对减少，而物化劳动越来越相对增加，导致剩余价值同总资本的比
率即利润率日趋下降。马克思同时也指出了起反作用的各因素，并
指出，“引起一般利润率下降的同一些原因，又会产生反作用，阻碍、
延缓并且部分地抵消这种下降”（见本卷第 367 页）。一般利润率趋
向下降的规律反映出了资本主义的深刻矛盾，这个规律的内部矛盾
的展开揭示了资本主义生产的历史局限性。马克思说：＂资本主义生

产的真正限制是资本自身”（见本卷第 388 页）。本章手稿没有分节，

恩格斯在编辑时划分了章节并分别加了标题。
在完成第三册手稿前三章的写作后，马克思撰写了《资本论》第
二册第 I 稿和《工资、价格和利润》报告稿。 1864 年下半年，马克思
转入第三册手稿第二阶段的写作。这时马克思的研究推进到了一个

新阶段，即从利润这个剩余价值的一般形式出发，推进到了论述商业
利润、企业利润、利息和地租等个别形式。剩余价值是它们的共同源
泉，而它们则是剩余价值的不同表现形式。
 前 言 13

手稿第四章以 1861 — 1863 年手稿中取得的成果为基础，论述

商业资本理论。马克思指出，商业资本是一种在流通中独立出来的
资本形式，它以其专门的职能加速产业资本的周转，从而提高产业资
本的利润率。马克思说，社会总资本总是有一部分作为商品处在市
场上，以便转化为货币，而另一部分则以货币的形式处在市场上，以
便转化为商品，“只要流通资本的这种职能作为一种特殊资本的特殊
职能独立起来，作为一种由分工赋予特殊一类资本家的职能固定下
来，商品资本就成为商品经营资本（商业资本）“(见本卷第 408 、 411
页）。马克思考察了商业利润的源泉和获取商业利润的机制，论述了
商业雇佣工人的劳动虽然不直接创造剩余价值，但帮助商人取得一
份平均利润。马克思说：＂店员的无酬劳动，虽然不创造剩余价值，但
能使他［商人］占有剩余价值；这对这个资本来说（就结果而言）是完
全一样的；因此，这种劳动对商业资本来说是利润的源泉。”（见本卷
第 444 页）马克思指出了商业资本在资本周转中所起的特殊作用。
他还明确区分了在产业资本循环过程中作为职能规定的货币资本和
商品资本，区分了作为商人资本的两个亚种，即商品经营资本和货币
经营资本。本章最后一节是对商人资本的历史考察。
关于手稿第二、三、四章的完成程度和对它们的编辑工作，恩格
斯说：＂除了文字上的修订，我几乎可以完全按照原来的手稿进行编

辑。”（见《马克思恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 46 卷第 8 页）
手稿第五章论述生息资本以及利润分割为利息和企业利润的问
题。对生息资本的分析属于论述资本主义生产方式经济规律的组成
部分，涉及的是全卷中最复杂的问题。早在 19 世纪 50 年代初，马克
思就已经对信用制度以及它与经济危机的关系等问题进行过研究，
并有了一定的认识。马克思的 1850 — 1853 年《伦敦笔记》和这一时
14 马克思恩格斯全集

期的一些手稿（如《金银条块。完成的货币体系》、《反思》）及书信，都
证明了这一点。马克思在 1861 — 1863 年手稿中就这个问题进行了
一般的论述。在本手稿中马克思面临的任务是对这个问题的一些主
要方面作出正面的具体论述。
马克思首先论述了生息资本的性质和职能以及它的特殊运动形

式，指出它是从职能资本的循环中独立出来的一种特殊资本，是货币
资本的独立化形式。马克思分析了利润分割为利息和企业利润的原
因和机制；论述了信用的基本形式，即银行信用和商业信用，并分别
阐明了其主要特征。除了这些最基本的论题，马克思还进一步论述
了信用制度和信用货币，特别是票据和银行券发行、信用货币对黄金
的可兑换性、汇兑率以及虚拟资本和股份公司等等问题。马克思在
大多数情况下是随着研究的进程而分散地论述这些特殊形式的，几

乎没有对它们加以系统化。值得注意的是，马克思在这一章中增补
了大量的实际材料，占了本章手稿的很大篇幅。他一方面把《伦敦笔
记》中搜集的材料和相关的见解作了整理加工，这些加工的材料几乎
涉及信用理论的各个方面；另一方面他还以《混乱》为标题汇集了篇
幅很大的带有批判性评论的材料。正如恩格斯所说，这些材料是议
会关于 1848 年和 1857 年危机的报告的摘录，其中“汇集了 23 个实

业家和经济学著作家的证词，特别是关于货币和资本、金的流出、过
度投机等等的证词……几乎所有当时流行的关于货币和资本的关系
的见解，都在这里用问答的方式表达出来了“（见《马克思恩格斯全
集》中文第 2 版第 46 卷第 9 页）。此外，这方面的研究还包括从其他
资料中摘录的统计材料和理论见解。如果马克思有机会整理自己的
手稿，他也许会把某些涉及细节问题的材料放到专门论述信用问题
的专册中去，而不再把它们保留在《资本论》中（参看马克思 1862 年
 前

言
15

12 月 28 日给路·库格曼的信）。马克思自己说明了他为什么在这
一章中追加实际材料的原因。他在 1868 年 11 月 14 日给恩格斯的

信中说：＂由千第二卷的大部分理论性太强，因此，我要用论信贷的一
章去揭露现代的投机活动和商业道德。”
正是这一章对恩格斯的编辑工作造成了“主要的困难”。在第三
卷《序言》中，恩格斯对他的编辑工作作了较详细说明（参看《马克思
恩格斯全集》中文第 2 版第 46 卷第 8-10 页）。马克思的第五章手

稿分为 6 节，其中第 1 、 2 、 3 、 4 节”大体上已经完成“，恩格斯把它们编

为第二十一至二十四章；第 6 节”写得很完整“，恩格斯把它编为第三
十六章。但在编辑第 5 节，特别是附在这一节中的有关实际材料和
理论史材料的汇编时，恩格斯遇到了“真正的困难＂。恩格斯本来打
算像对待第一篇那样，把第五篇也编成“至少可以接近于作者原来打

算写成的那个样子”。他“至少这样试了三次“，但每次尝试都未能成
功，由此导致出版一再推迟。恩格斯不得已只好”尽可能限于整理现
有的材料，只作一些必不可少的补充＂。在努力编出手稿的基本部
分、尽量保留马克思思想的考虑下，恩格斯最后把第 5 节中的材料编
成第三卷第五篇第二十五章至三十五章提供给读者，并分别加了标
题。尽管如此，手稿中仍有一部分资料没有收入现行版中。
手稿第六章论述地租问题。马克思关于超额利润转化为地租的
观点，是分儿个阶段逐步形成的。他在 19 世纪 40 年代曾经接受过
李嘉图的级差地租理论；到了 50 年代，他通过系统地研究有关地租
问题的著作，同时广泛地吸收农业化学和地质学等学科的最新成果，
清算了与土地肥力递减规律联系在一起的李嘉图级差地租理论，奠
定了科学的级差地租理论的基础。在 1861-1863 年手稿中，马克
思通过批判洛贝尔图斯和李嘉图的理论，又取得了重大科学成果，创
16 马克思恩格斯全集

立了绝对地租理论。
本章手稿在《 (a) 导论》之后，先写的是《 Cc) 绝对地租》，在这里马

克思把 1861 — 1863 年手稿取得的成果作了正面系统的论述。马克

思指出，绝对地租是由土地所有权的垄断产生的、租种任何土地都必
须交纳的地租形式。土地所有权是产生绝对地租的直接原因，但不
是它的直接来源。“绝对地租的先决条件或者是产品价值超过它的
生产价格以上的已经实现了的余额，或者是超过产品价值的垄断价
格。”（见本卷第 914 页）这种不同的先决条件导致不同意义的绝对地
租。前者是由于农业资本的平均构成通常低于社会平均构成，因而
农产品的价值超过它的生产价格，这就形成绝对地租。马克思在
1861 — 1863 年手稿中只谈到了这一种意义上的绝对地租。在本手
稿中，他又补充了另一种意义上的绝对地租。他指出，随着农业的进
步，农业资本的有机构成将接近或超过工业资本的平均构成，这时前
一种意义的绝对地租将消失。在这种情况下，绝对地租”只能来自产
品的市场价格超过其价值和生产价格的余额，简单地说，只能来［自］
产品的垄断价格”（见本卷第 867 页）。在本章的后半部分，马克思利
用内容广泛的材料论述了级差地租。他先论述了在利用可垄断的自
然力的场合非农业的超额利润是如何形成的，在确定了级差地租的
一般概念之后，再专门考察农业部门特有的级差地租。在这里，他对
参与形成级差地租的各种因素进行不同的排列组合，用图式列举出
级差地租的各种状况。由于展开系统的论述，本章手稿的篇幅一再
扩大。马克思写完这一章之后，在 1866 年 2 月 13 日写信给恩格斯

说：”说到这本｀该死的＇书，情况是这样： 12 月底已经完成。单是论
述地租的倒数第二章，按现在的结构看，就儿乎构成一本书。”
尽管马克思在手稿中先阐述绝对地租，后阐述级差地租，但是马
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this out of the same kind of skeleton as the lizard, with the one
difference that he has no breastbone. Let us see how it has been
brought about. The bones of his neck are jointed and free enough as
you can see (Fig. 21), and so are the joints of his tail, beginning from
behind his hip bones (h). But with his back it is different. The backbone
can be clearly seen inside the empty shell, running from head to tail so
as to cover the nerve-telegraph, but the joints (j) have all grown
together, and on the top they have become flattened into hard
74
plates, while the ribs (r) which are joined to them have also been
flattened out and have grown firmly together so as to make an arched
cover or carapace. If now you look at the back of the young tortoise
(Fig. 22), which has been taken out of the egg before it was full-grown,
you will see these plates (p) on the side where the tortoise-shell (ts)
has been peeled off. They have not yet widened out enough to be
joined together, and the ribs (r) are as yet only united by strong gristle.
But what is that row of oblong plates (mp) round the edge? Those are
the marginal plates, and they are mere skin bones, like the bony plates
of the crocodile, but they are all firmly fixed together so as to bind the
edges of the ribs, while plates of the same kind form the shell under
the body, and the whole is covered by the horny skin.
 Fig. 22.

Back of a Young Tortoise.—(From Rathke.)

ts, Tortoise-shell covering the whole carapace; this has been

removed on the right side; mp, marginal plates binding the
edges of the ribs; np, neck-plate; p, plates formed of the top of
the backbone joints which have grown together; r, ribs which
have not yet spread out so as to form a continuous shell; lm,
lm′, front and hind leg muscles not yet covered by the
carapace.

But there still remains another great puzzle. How come the
shoulder bones and hip bones of the tortoise to be inside his ribs
instead of being outside them, as in other animals? But look again at
our baby tortoise, and you will see that the muscles of his front legs
(lm, Fig. 22) are not covered by ribs, neither are those of his hind legs
(lm′). They stand just like those of other animals, in front between the
ribs and the neck, and behind between the ribs and the tail. But as the
tortoise grows up, the bony plates press forwards and backwards, and
cover up the shoulders and hips, protecting the soft legs and neck, and
giving him the curious appearance of living inside his own backbone
and ribs.
In this way, then, the tortoises have managed to hold their own in
the world. Living slowly, so that they sometimes go on growing up to
eighty years old, wanting but little food, and escaping the cold by
sleeping the winter months away in some sheltered nook, they ask but
little from Life, while they escape the dangers of sluggishness by
growing their skeletons so as to form a citadel which even birds and
beasts of prey can rarely break through. They are, it is true, often
eaten when young, and the jaguar of Brazil knows how to dig the poor
American tortoise out of his shell and eat him; while large birds are
formidable enemies to our Greek tortoise, and are said to drop it down
on the rocks, and break it to pieces. But, on the whole, they escape
most of these dangers, and wander in the woods and dry sandy places
of sunny Greece and Palestine, laying their bullet-shaped eggs in
warm spots to hatch, seldom wandering far from home, and lying down
for their winter’s sleep under heaps of drifted leaves or in holes of the
ground.
75
These are true Land-tortoises, and so are the gigantic tortoises
which used to live in the island of Aldabra, and others still surviving in
the Galapagos and other islands near Madagascar, which weigh at
least 200 pounds, and on whose backs Mr. Darwin rode when he
found them travelling up the island to get water to drink, feeding on the
juicy cactus as they went. Some carapaces in our museums belonging
to these tortoises measure four feet long and three broad; yet they
were timid fellows when alive, drawing back completely within their
shells when danger was near. We even find some smaller land-
76
tortoises in America, called the Box-tortoises, which have soft joints
in their under shell, so that they can draw it up both in front and
behind, shutting themselves completely in.
77
Not so the River-tortoises, which are greedy animal-feeders, and
as they live in the water do not need the same protection. Their box is
much flatter and more open at the ends, so as to allow them to swim
freely with their webbed feet; and they are fierce and bold, the
78
Snapping Turtle of the lakes and rivers of America being a terrible
fellow, tearing the frogs and fishes in the water with his sharp claws,
and even snapping strong sticks in half with his powerful beak. The
Mud-tortoises, too, which swim swiftly with their strong legs and long
neck outstretched, do not need a hard shell, and they have scarcely
any plate below, and only a gristly leathery covering above, which
looks very like the mud in which they hide.
Lastly the Sea-tortoises or Turtles, which swim in the warm parts of
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, have only an open flat shell under
which they cannot draw their head and feet, for they strike out boldly
into the open ocean, feeding on seaweed, jelly-fish, and cuttle-fish,
rowing grandly along with their broad paddles which they feather like
oars as they go. They have only one time of weakness—when they
come on islands, such as Ascension and the Bahama Islands, which
they choose probably because they find fewer large animals there.
There the mother turtle arrives at night, looking fearfully around, and if
all is still comes flapping in over the sand, and, clearing a hole with her
flippers, lays about 200 soft round eggs and covers them up and
leaves them. Then in about a month the young turtles come out and
make at once for sea, though many of them fall victims to large birds of
prey on their way. Woe, too, to the mother when she is laying her eggs,
if these large birds are near, for she cannot defend her soft body; or,
worse still, if the natives are on the look-out; for then the Green
79
Turtle, coming ashore from the Atlantic, is tilted over on her back and
80
killed for food; and the Hawk’s-bill Turtle from the Indian or Pacific
Oceans is cruelly stripped of its shell for ornaments. Yet they must run
these risks, for their eggs would not hatch without the warm sun, and
we see how great is the gap between the last water-breathers and the
first air-breathers, when we remember that the frogs go back to lay
their eggs in the water, while the tortoises, even when they live far out
at sea, are forced to come in to shore, in spite of great dangers, to lay
their eggs that their little ones may begin life upon land.

* * * * *
 Fig. 23.

Skeleton of a Lizard.

sp, Spinous processes, which in the tortoise are flattened

into plates; r, ribs; s, shoulder bone; a, upper arm; e, elbow; fa,
forearm; h, hip bone; th, thigh bone; k, knee; l, bones of the leg;
q, quadrate bone between upper and lower jaw.

And now, if we leave the tortoises and turn to the Lizards, we find
them meeting life’s difficulties in quite a different way. Here are no
sluggish movements, horny beaks, and strong boxes; but bright-eyed
creatures covered with shining scales, their mouths filled with sharp
teeth, with which even the small lizards can bite fiercely, and having
nimble lissome bodies, which wriggle through the grass or up the trees
in the twinkling of an eye. Yet the lizards, as we have seen, are formed
on the same plan as the tortoise, and their scales are thickenings in
their outer skin, just as his tortoise-shell is, and not true scales like
those of fish. They have learned to hold their own by sharpness and
quickness, and are probably the most intelligent of all the cold-blooded
animals, though even they are only lively in a jerky way under the
influence of warmth. They can breathe more easily than the tortoise,
for their ribs rise and fall, drawing in and driving out the air they need;
but they are still cold-blooded, for their heart has only three chambers.
It is when the bright sun is shining that they love to dart about, chasing
the insects upon which they feed; and the joints of their backbone
move so easily upon each other that they can twist and turn in all
imaginable ways, keeping their heads twisted in a most comical
manner when on the watch for flies. Nay, the very vertebræ
themselves are so loosely made that they can split in half, and if you
seize a lizard by the tail he will most likely leave it in your hand and
grow another.
They can live both in dry sandy places, where larger animals
cannot find food and water, and in thick underwood, and marshy
unhealthy places, where more quickly-breathing animals would be
poisoned by the fetid air; and we find them swarming in hot countries
in spite of enemies, their scales protecting them from the rough
surface of the rocks and trees on which they glide, their feeble legs
scarcely ever lifting their body from the object on which they glide
rather than walk.
 Fig. 24.

Gecko and Chamæleon.

81
The true land-creepers, like our little Scaly Lizard, lurk in dry
woody places, and on heaths and banks, darting out on the unwary
insects. Many of them lay their eggs in the warm sand or earth, but the
Scaly lizard carries them till they are ready to break, so that the young
ones come out lively and active as the eggs are laid. Others have
taken to the water, and among these are the Monitors of Africa and
Australia, which feed on frogs and fish and crocodiles’ eggs, and are
so strong and fierce that they often drag larger animals under the
water. Some are tree and wall climbers, such as the “Geckos,” with
thick tongues and dull mottled skins, and they have sharp claws and
suckers under their toes, so that they can hang or walk upside down,
on ceilings or overhanging rocks, or on the smooth trunks of trees; and
they love to chase the insects in the hot sultry nights, tracking them to
their secret haunts. They are far more active than the large gentle
Iguanas or Tree-Lizards of South America, from a few inches to five
feet long, which may be seen among the branches of the trees of
Mexico, their beautiful scales glistening in the sun as they feed on the
flowers and fruit. They swarm on all sides in those rich forest regions,
scampering over the ground, and then clinging with their claws to the
tree-bark as they gradually mount up into the dense foliage; and they
have many advantages, for not only can they climb to great heights out
of the reach of beasts of prey, but they can also swim well, having
been known to fling themselves from the overhanging branches into
the water below when danger was near. They do not, moreover,
descend as gracefully as the “Flying Lizards” of the East Indies, which
have a fold of skin stretched from the lengthened ends of their hinder
ribs, so that they sail from branch to branch as they chase the
butterflies and other insects.
But the most curious of all tree-lizards is the Chamæleon, with his
soft warty skin, his round skin-encircled eyes, his bird-like feet, and his
clinging tail. He never hurries himself, but putting forward a leg, at the
end of which is a foot whose claws are divided into two bundles, he
very deliberately grasps the branch, as a parrot does, loosens his tail,
draws himself forward, and then fastens on again with tail and claws;
while his eyes, each peering out of a thick covering skin, roll round
quite independently of each other, one looking steadily to the right,
while the other may be making a journey to the left. What is he looking
for? Just ahead of him on a twig sits a fly, but he cannot reach him yet.
So once more a leg comes out, and his body is drawn gradually
forwards. Snap! In a moment his mouth has opened, his tube-like
tongue, with clubbed and sticky tip, has darted out and struck the fly,
and carried it down his throat, while the chamæleon looks as if he had
never moved. It is not difficult to imagine that such a slow-moving
animal, whose natural colour is a brownish green like the leaves
among which he moves, would often escape unseen from his enemies.
And when light falls upon him, his tint changes by the movement of the
colour-cells in his skin, which seem to vary according to the colour of
the objects around, whenever he is awake and can see them.
So by the waterside, on the land, and among the trees, the lizard
tribe still flourish in spite of higher animals; and just as we found some
legless kinds among the amphibia burrowing in the ground, so here,
too, we find legless lizards, some with small scaly spikes in the place
82
of hind legs, others, like the glass-snake of America and our English
83
slowworm (or blindworm), which have no trace of feet outside the
skin, but glide along under grass and leaves, eating slugs and other
small creatures, though they are true lizards with shoulder bones and
breastbones under the skin.

* * * * *
Here, then, we seem to be drifting along the road to snake-life, but
we must halt and travel first in another direction, upwards to a higher
group of animals, which may almost be called gigantic flesh-eating
lizards, though they are far more formidable and highly-organised
creatures. These are the Crocodiles, and no one looking at them can
doubt for a moment that they at least are well armed, so as to have an
easy time of it without much exertion. Huge creatures, often more than
twenty feet long, with enormous heads and wide-opening mouths,
holding more than thirty teeth in each jaw, they look formidable indeed
as they drag their heavy bodies along the muddy banks of the Nile,
their legs not being strong enough to lift them from the ground. Their
whole body is covered with strong horny shields, and under these
shields, on the back, are thick bony plates, which will turn even a bullet
aside, and quite protect the crocodile from the fangs of wild beasts.
Their eyelids are thick and strong, and they have a third skin which
they can draw over the eye sideways like birds; their ears, too, have
flaps to cover them, and their teeth are stronger and more perfect than
any we have yet seen, for they are set in sockets, and new ones grow
up inside the lower part of the old ones as they are broken or worn
away.
 Fig. 25.

The Nile Crocodile.—(Tristram.)

But it is in the water that we see them in their full strength; there
they swim with their webbed feet and strokes of their powerful tail, and
feed upon the fishes and water animals—monarchs of all they survey.
Nor is the crocodile content with mere fish-diet. Often he will lie with
his nostrils just above the water and wait till some animal—it may be a
goat, or a hog, or even a good-sized calf—comes to drink, then he will
come up slowly towards it, seize it in his formidable jaws, or
sometimes strike it with his powerful tail, and drag it under water to
drown. For he himself can shut down his eyelids and the flaps over his
ears, and he has a valve in the back of his throat which he can close,
and prevent the water rushing down his open mouth; and after a while
he rises slowly till his nostrils are just above the water, and he can
breathe freely while his victim is drowning, because his nose-holes are
very far back behind the valve. Then when it is dead he brings it to
shore to tear it to pieces and eat it.
 Thus the crocodiles of the Nile and the Ganges, the Gavials with
their long narrow snouts, and the Alligators of America, with their
shorter and broader heads, feed on fish and beasts, and all dead and
putrid matter, acting as scavengers of the rivers; while they themselves
are almost free from attack, except when tigers fall upon them on land.
But it is the young crocodiles which run the most risks when they come
out of the small chalky eggs which have been hatched in the warm
sand of the shore. True, their mother often watches over them at this
time, and even feeds them from her own mouth; but in spite of her care
many of them are eaten in their youth by the tortoises and fishes which
they would themselves have devoured by-and-by, if they had lived to
grow up; while the monitors, ichneumons, waterfowl, and even
monkeys, devour large numbers of crocodiles’ eggs.

* * * * *
And now, if we were to turn our backs upon the great rivers in
which these animals dwell, and wander into the Indian jungle or the
South American forest, we might meet with enemies far more
dangerous and deadly, although they stand much lower in the reptile
world. Who would think that the huge boa of South America, and the
python and poisonous cobra of India, or even our own little viper,
whose bite is often death to its victim, are creatures of lower structure
than the harmless little lizard or the stupid alligator? Yet so it is. For
Snakes have no breastbone and have lost all vestiges of front legs and
shoulder bones, nor have they any hips or hind legs except among the
boas and rock-snakes; and even these have only small traces of hips,
which carry some crooked bones, ending in horny or fleshy claws, in
the place where hind legs ought to be. They have no eyelids (and by
this we may know them from the legless lizards), but their skin grows
right over the eyes, so that when a snake casts its skin there are no
holes where the eyes have been, but only clear round spaces like
watch-glasses, in the scaly skin. Their ears have no drum, and are
quite hidden under the scales with which their body is so thickly
covered that they must feel very little as they glide along. These
scales, like those of the lizard, are thickened parts of the outer skin,
and if you stretch a piece of snake-skin you can see them lying
embedded in it, the clear skin itself showing between.
 Fig. 26.

Skeleton of a Snake.

sp, Spinous processes of the joints; r, ribs; q, quadrate

bones, joining upper and lower jaws; e, front of the lower jaw,
where there is an elastic band in the place of bone; b, ball end
of joint, facing the tail; c, cup end of joint, facing the head.

We must not, however, imagine that the snake is at a disadvantage

because he has lost so many parts which other reptiles possess. On
the contrary, he has most probably lost them because he can do better
without them. The transparent tough skin over his eye is a far better
protection in narrow rugged places, and among brakes and brambles,
than a soft movable eyelid; and if he does not see as well as the
crocodile, he has a most delicate organ of touch in his long, narrow,
forked tongue, with which he is constantly feeling as he goes, touching
now on one side, now on the other, each object he comes near, and
drawing the tongue in at every moment to moisten it in a sheath at the
back of his throat. A breast bone, moreover, would have been a
decided hindrance to him, for he wants the free use of all his ribs; and
as to the loss of his legs—in the place of four he has often more than
two hundred. For all along his backbone, except just at the head and
tail, a pair of ribs grow from each vertebra, being joined to it by a cup-
and-ball joint (c and b, Fig. 26), and the muscles between them are so
elastic that the ribs can be drawn out so that the body seems to swell,
and then drawn back towards the tail. In doing this they strike the
ground and the snake moves forwards, just as a centipede does on its
hundred legs.
It is worth while to take our harmless Ringed Snake in your hand to
feel this curious movement to and fro of the ribs, and to notice how the
creature forces itself through your grasp. Moreover, you will learn at
the same time one use of the broad single plates under the snake’s
body (see Fig. 27), for they, like all the scales, are loose from the skin
on the side towards the tail; and as they are fastened by muscles to
the ends of the ribs, you will find that at each movement they stand up
a little like tiles on a roof, and their edges coming against your hand
help to drive the snake forward.
Another thing you will learn if the snake does not know you, and
that is how strangely they hiss, often with their mouth closed, while
their whole body seems to quiver. This is very puzzling at first, till you
learn that one of their lungs has shrunk up, and the other is a very long
and narrow bag stretching nearly the whole length of the snake’s
stomach, and the hissing sound is made by drawing in and forcing out
the air from this long bag.
 Fig. 27.

Common Ringed Snake.84

Where the body is coiled the single under plates are seen.

Meanwhile, another way in which the snake will escape from your
hold unless you grasp it tightly, is by wriggling in all directions, so that
you do not know where to expect it next; for the whole of the joints of
its backbone are joined by a succession of cups-and-balls, the ball of
one joint fitting into the cup in the one behind it. It is easy to see how
such joints can move almost every way, since the ball can twist freely
in the cup wherever the muscles pull it (except where checked by the
spines on the top of the backbone), and can even turn so much to one
side that the snake can coil itself round or tie itself into a knot.
A creature that can glide along so smoothly, twist about so freely
round trees, through narrow openings and tangled brushwood, and
even swim in the water, has no small advantage in life; and the snake
can also coil itself up under a heap of dead leaves or in a hollow trunk
of a tree for safety, or to watch for its prey when no animal would
suspect it was near. But even the harmless snakes have something
besides this, namely, the power of swallowing animals much broader
and thicker than themselves. You will see on looking at the lizard’s
skull (p. 103) that its bottom jaw is not joined at once to the top one,
but there is a bone (q) between, which enables it to open its mouth
wider than if the two jaws touched each other. Now this bone (q) in the
snake’s jaw is so loosely hung that it moves very easily, and the lower
jaw also stretches back far behind the upper one, so that when the
snake brings the jaw forward it can open its mouth enormously wide.
Nor is this all; it can actually stretch the bones of its jaws apart, for they
have not their pieces all firmly fixed together. In the front of the mouth
each jaw has elastic gristle in the place of bone, and the two halves of
the jaw can thus be forced apart from each other, making room for a
very large mouthful indeed.
 Fig. 28.

The Boa Constrictor in the Forests of South America.

Now the snake’s teeth are all curved towards the back of his
mouth, and they are never used for chewing or tearing, but only for
holding and packing down its food. So when he seizes a creature too
large to be easily swallowed, he fastens his front teeth into it and then
brings forward one side of his jaws. He then fixes the teeth of this side
into the animal, and holds it fast while he brings forward the jaws on
the other side, fixes these teeth, then loosens and brings forward the
others, and so on. In this way he keeps his mouth stretched over the
prey and gradually forces it down his elastic throat, moistening it well
all the time with slime from two glands, one on each side of his mouth,
and when it is swallowed he lies down and rests while the stomach
digests its heavy load.
We see, then, that even harmless snakes have many advantages.
Thus our ringed snake, feeding on mice and lizards, frogs and fish,
wanders through the grass and bushes of warm sunny banks, feeling
this side and that with his delicate forked tongue, and gliding so fast
that the lizards and mice try in vain to escape; while in the water he
seizes the frogs by their hind legs and jerks them into his mouth. He
does not even always stop to kill his food, for a live frog has been
known to jump out of a snake’s mouth as it yawned after its meal. So
he lives through the summer, changing his skin several times by
loosening it first at the lips, so that two flaps lie back over the head and
neck, and then rubbing himself through moss, bush, or bramble, so
that the skin is drawn off inside out like a glove, and the new skin
appears underneath, fresh, hard, and bright, ready for use. Then in the
warm season the mother lays her ten or twenty soft eggs in a mass of
slime, and leaves them in some sunny spot, or under a heap of warm
manure to hatch, and she herself wanders away, and when winter
comes coils herself up in the trunk of some hollow tree, or under the
hedge, to sleep till spring comes round again. Life does not always,
however, flow so smoothly as this, for the snakes have their enemies;
the fox and the hedgehog love to feed upon them, the buzzard and
other birds of prey swoop down upon them from above, and the
weasels attack them below; and this, perhaps, is partly the reason why
the ringed snake generally keeps near the water, into which it can glide
when danger threatens.
All snakes are not, however, so harmless as our little ringed snake.
The Pythons of India and the Boas of America, though they have no
poison in their teeth, can work terrible mischief with their powerful
joints as they coil round even good-sized animals, such as an antelope
or a wild boar, and crush them in their folds. Then it may be seen what
a terrible weapon this flexible backbone is, as the muscles draw it
tighter and tighter round the unfortunate animal, breaking its bones in
pieces, till, when it is soft enough to be swallowed, the snake gradually
forces it down its capacious mouth, moistening it with saliva as it goes.
These large boas and pythons would, in fact, probably devastate
whole countries if it were not that when they are young they are
devoured by other animals, so that very few live to grow into
dangerous marauders.
Other snakes have taken a still more terrible way of killing their
prey. There may be some chance of escape from a coiling snake,
85
unless he already holds you with his teeth, but the poisonous Cobra
may strike before you know that you have startled him, and though the
86
Rattlesnake makes a sharp noise as he shakes the loose horny
plates to call his mate or to alarm an enemy, yet when he means to
strike his prey it is too late when the sound is heard to get out of reach
of his fatal fangs. From the snake’s point of view, however, it is clearly
an advantage to be able with one single stroke to paralyse its prey, so
that it has only to wait for the poison to do its work, and then its meal is
ready. Even our little viper (see p. 121), needs only to strike a mouse
once, and then draws back as the poor victim springs up and falls and
dies, soon to be packed down its destroyer’s throat.
 Fig. 29.

The Cobra di Capello.87—(From Gosse.)

The mouth being closed, the poison fangs cannot be seen. The
tongue is perfectly harmless.

Yet this terrible poison, which acts so speedily, is no special gift to

the snake. It has only lately been discovered by M. Gautier that we,
and probably all animals, have in our saliva some of the very poison
with which the cobra kills its prey, only with us it is extremely diluted,
and is useful in digesting our food. The cobra, however, has the
poison, which no doubt exists in the slimy saliva of all snakes, specially
concentrated and collected in two glands, one on each side of its jaw.
From each of these glands (g) a small canal passes under the eye to
the edge of the jaw (c), and opens immediately above a large curved
fang (f). This fang is fastened to a bone in the cheek which moves
easily, so that the poison teeth can be shut back and lie close against
the gum when they are not wanted, and when they are wanted can be
brought quickly down again. Though the fang looks round like ordinary
teeth, it is really flattened out like a knife-blade, and then the edges are
curved forwards so as to form a groove or, in some snakes, a closed
tube, down which the poison can run to the point.
 Fig. 30.

Jaw of a Rattlesnake.

ff. Poison fangs; g, gland secreting poison;

c, canal leading from gland to base of fang; t,
harmless tongue; s, saliva glands.

Now when the snake wishes to strike its prey it raises its head,
brings down the fangs and drives them into the creature’s flesh, and at
the same time certain muscles press upon the poison gland, so that
the liquid poison is forced into the wounds. If, however, the fang was
fixed to the canal, the snake’s weapon would be gone if the point were
broken, so we find that the canal-opening lies just above the tube of
the tooth, and behind are six small reserve teeth, covered by a tender
sheath skin, ready to grow up and take its place when wanted.
Should we not think that with such weapons as these the
poisonous snakes would conquer every enemy? Yet they, too, only
have their fair chance of life, for besides the destruction of their eggs
other dangers await them. The rapacious birds, with their feathery
covering, their horny and scale-covered legs and feet, and their hard
beaks, will offer battle even to a poisonous snake. The buzzard makes
short work of our common viper or adder, whose fangs, though fatal to
small animals, are not nearly so powerful as those of snakes of hot
countries. Seizing the viper with his claws in the middle of its body, the
buzzard takes no notice of its frantic struggles as, winding itself about