ESTIMATING VALUE. 159

estimated in any article we please. If any articles
 still require the same labour, and we estimate
 the rest in these, then the aggregate value
will remain the same.
In the sequel of the passage above cited,
Mr. Ricardo maintains, that when the labour of
a certain number of men, formerly capable of
producing 1000 pair of stockings, becomes by
inventions in machinery productive of 2000 pair,
the value of the general mass of commodities
 will be diminished, because the stockings
manufactured before the improvement must
fall to the level of the new goods. This again
depends on the mode of estimation. Estimated
in stockings, the aggregate value of the general
 mass of commodities would rise; estimated
 in any thing else it would fall: and although
 it may seem ludicrous to talk of estimating
 the value of all commodities in stockings,
the principle is still the same as if gold or
any other commodity happened to be the medium
 of valuation.
Hence it appears, that these propositions,