BETWEEN VALUE AND RICHES. 167

this kind, there would necessarily be a superiority
 of value, if such an idea came at all
into question, as well as of wealth. If the
sole commodity in possession of the two individuals
 were corn, of which one possessed 500
quarters and the other 1000, the latter would
not only be richer, but the proprietor of produce,
 the aggregate value of which was
oreater.

In all but this very simplest case, it would
be impossible to decide with accuracy on the
superiority of two individuals in point of riches,
except by estimating their value in some
common medium. Suppose the individual
who possessed the 500 quarters of corn, was
worth also 500 yards of cloth, while the other,
who had 1000 quarters of corn, possessed only
100 yards of cloth ; in what imaginable method
could their riches be compared, and the superiority
 of one over the other be ascertained,
except by means of their value, computed in
some common medium of estimation, or reduced
 into one denomination ?