OF VALUE. 
1923 
measure. Let us try to discover how far it 
would assist us here. 
Suppose cloth in the year 1600 was worth 
125. a yard, and in 1800 only 6s. Here we 
have a fluctuation in the value of cloth, in re- 
lation to the standard commodity ; in 1800 it 
was worth only half as much silver as it was in 
1600. This, however, is not, let it be ob- 
served, a fluctuation ascertained by the cir- 
cumstance of silver being produced by an in- 
variable quantity of labour. Had silver varied 
in the circumstances of its production, our in- 
formation as to the relation between cloth and 
silver would have been equally attainable, and 
equally complete. What then could be ascer- 
tained, in this case, from the metal being in- 
variable in the quantity of its producing la- 
bour? What inference would this circum- 
stance enable us to draw? No inference, ob- 
viously, as to the value of cloth and silver; 
for, on this point, the prices of the former tell 
us all that it is possible to know. The in- 
ference we should draw would be, that the