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 aggregate
 quantities which really vary in amount,
and have no identity but in name; our business
is with definite portions: and the precise reason
 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 under
 every variation continue to be designated
by the terms “wages,” and “ sum.”
It is true enough, that if a commodity exchanges
 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