OF VALUE.

103

adopted without any suspicion of the false analogy
 and fundamental misconception on which it
proceeds *. It is therefore essentially requisite,
for a clear understanding of the present subject,
 to bring this opinion to the test of a close
and minute examination.
The utter absurdity, however, of supposing,
that a commodity to constitute a measure must
be of invariable value, requires no deep research
 ; it lies almost on the surface, and presents
 itself in numerous different aspects.
[nvariable value must signify, as we have
repeatedly shown, invariable in relation to
some one or more commodities. Suppose a to
be the commodity selected as a measure, and
that it is invariable in value to B. I have here
got an invariable value, but in what way am
l to use it in regard to other things? When 1
have an invariable space, or an unvarying distance
 between two points, I can apply it mediately
 or immediately to all other spaces or
distances within my reach, and ascertain their

Nee Note DD.