BETWEEN VALUE AND RICHES. 165

the idea of aggregation or collection cannot be
excluded. A single grain of wheat is not
wealth, although it may be said to be an article
of wealth. The idea of possession also seems
essential to it. Riches are not simply commodities
 as things existing, but as things possessed.
 The most useful articles in an uninhabited
 country could not be termed wealth,
because they would have no proprietor. The
country, it is true, might be denominated rich
in such articles, but only inasmuch as it would
be the container or possessor of them. There
would still be the same idea of possession involved
 in our language.
Whatever difficulty may be found in furnishing
 a good and complete definition of riches,
there can be none in establishing the difference
between the terms riches and value, as used in
the science of Political Economy. Riches are
the attribute of men, value is the attribute of
commodities. A man or a community is rich;
a pearl or a diamond is valuable. He pos-