ESTIMATION OF VALUE. 153
the latter is more appositely used in regard to a
single definite portion of a commodity, or atleast
in the simpler cases of valuation; while the
former may be appropriated to cases of greater
complexity, where we compute the value of a
mass or number of commodities. When I
say a yard of cloth is worth twenty shillings,
or a pound, I express the value of the cloth in
relation to silver. When I say that 1000 yards
of cloth, 500 quarters of corn, and 20 tons of
iron, are worth 3000 guineas, I estimate the
value of these articles in gold. If it is ne-
cessary to establish a distinction between ex-
pressing and estimating value, it may therefore
be stated to be, that the latter involves the idea
of computation, which is not necessarilyimplied
in the former. The distinction, however, is
not essential, and the indiscriminate use of the
terms can scarcely lead to error.

Mr. Ricardo frequently insists, that if by im-
provements in the methods of production the
whole produce of a country were doubled,
while the labour employed remained the same,
this doubled produce would be only of the same