CHAPTER  lî

DEMAND
We  all  know  that  ordinarily  the  lower  the
price  of  a  thing  the  larger  is  the  quantity  of
the  thing  that  can  find  purchasers.  The
economist  tries  to  state  precisely  the  truths*
with  their  limitations,  underlying  this  superficial ­
  knowledge.  It  is  usual  in  elementary
works  on  economics  to  trace  the  relation
between  price  and  purchases  to  the  relation
between  the  utility  of  things  and  their
supply  ;  but,  before  proceeding  to  bring  out
the  exact  connection  between  utility  and  the
consumption  of  articles  and  services,  we
must  make  up  our  minds  as  to  the  implications
with  which  the  term  “  utility  "  is  to  be
invested  in  this  work.
The  term  “  utility  ”  used  to  have  ineconomics ­
  a  meaning  far  different  from  that
which  is  customarily  assigned  to  it  to-day.
In  the  mouths  of  the  philosophers  known  as
Utilitarians,  the  utility  of  a  thing  meant  its
power  to  excite  pleasurable  feeling  which
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