PROPOSED BY MR. MALTHUS. 147 
they command the same portion of labour, as 
to call the sum given for a hat, of invariable 
value, because, although sometimes more and 
sometimes less, it always purchases the hat. 
In speaking of the rise and fall in value of 
commodities, we have nothing to do with ag- 
gregate quantities which really vary in amount, 
and have no identity but in name; our business 
is with definite portions: and the precise rea- 
son why the labour in one case, and the hat in 
the other, are not of invariable value, is, that 
the quantities of corn and of money given for 
them have varied, although these quantities un- 
der every variation continue to be designated 
by the terms “wages,” and “ sum.” 
It is true enough, that if a commodity ex- 
changes at one time for 10 men’s labour, and at 
another time for the same, it has not altered in 
value to labour: both the commodity and the 
labour have been constant in value to each 
other; but as wages are not a commodity, as 
in Mr. Malthus’s nomenclature they signify an 
aggregate quantity of corn, if this aggregate