CHAPTER 1.

ON THE NATURE OF VALUE.

VALUE, in its ultimate sense, appears to mean
the esteem in which any object is held. It de-
notes, strictly speaking, an effect produced on the
mind ; but as we are accustomed in other cases
to give a common name to a feeling and to
the cause which has excited it, and to blend
them together in our thoughts, so in this case
we regard value as a quality of external ob-
jects. Colour and fragrance, for example, are
words which designate both the cause and the
effect, both the material quality which produces
the feeling in the mind, and the feeling pro-
duced. The philosopher, however, is the only
one who discerns the distinction, and colour
and fragrance are never thought of by the ge-