154 ON METHODS OF 
aggregate value as the former produce, while 
each individual commodity would have fallen 
fifty per cent. in value. Itis obvious, however, 
that the truth of this and similar positions en- 
tirely depends on the medium in which we es- 
timate value. Suppose, for the sake of simpli- 
fication, that the country had no foreign com- 
merce, and produced its own money: then if 
all commodities (money of course included) were 
produced in double quantity, the effect would 
be, that while the value of the aggregate would 
be doubled, the value of each individual com- 
modity would remain as before. For by the 
value of an individual commodity we mean its 
power of commanding other things in exchange. 
If a pair of stockings were formerly worth a 
shilling, it would still be worth a shilling. 
Every commodity would in the same way con- 
tinue to be exchanged in the same quantity 
against every other commodity. So far as to 
the value of individual commodities. With 
regard to the aggregate, value being in strict 
propriety a relation existing amongst the several 
parts, it cannot be predicated of the whole, ex-