AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 85

tity of any other commodity B, for which it will
exchange, depends on the comparative quantities
 of labour necessary for the production of
a and B.” So far there is no obscurity, and the
position can be construed only in one sense.
When Mr. Ricardo, however, adds, “and not
on the greater or less compensation which is
paid for that labour,” every one must be sensible
 of a confusion of ideas. In the former
clause he is telling us on what circumstance the
mutual value of A and B depends, or, in other
words, what circumstance determines the quantities
 in which these two commodities are exchanged
 for each other; in the latter clause it
was evidently his business, as it was his design,
to tell us on what the mutual value of A and
did not depend ; or, in other words, what circumstance
 did nof determine the quantities in
which these commodities are exchanged for
each other. Now the only circumstance assigned

 is obviously the compensation paid for
the labour,” and the proposition really asserted
in this latter clause is, that the mutual value