Le

ON MEASURES

stand by a measure of value, is some commo-
dity which would serve as a medium to ascer-
tain the relation subsisting between two other
commodities, that we had no means of bringing
into direct comparison. Thus, if I wished to
know the relation in exchange between corn
and cloth, and there happened to be no in-
stance of direct barter of one of these commo-
dities for the other, I could acquire the desired
information only by ascertaining their relations
to a third commodity. Supposing this commo-
dity to be money, if a yard of cloth were worth
L0s., and a bushel of corn 5s., I should learn
immediately that a yard of cloth was worth
two bushels of corn, and would have an equal
power of commanding all other things in ex-
change, silver in this instance being the com-
modity employed as a measure. This kind of
measure of value, which is merely a medium of
comparison, and obviously quite dissimilar to a
measure of length, is the only one which it is
possible to have; and although money is the
measure generally employed, and by far the