224, ON THE CAUSES 
correctly said to be determined by the quantity 
of capital expended upon it by the manufac- 
turer, yet no analysis could possibly resolve 
the value of the capital into quantity of labour. 
Nor must it be supposed that is this a case of 
rare occurrence. In scarcely any instance could 
the value of capital be traced to the quantity of 
labour as its only source, liable as every process 
of production is to the intrusion of articles de- 
riving their value from other causes. 
Hence for those economists, who object to the 
doctrine of the value of commodities being chiefly 
determined by the quantity of capital expended 
in their production, that it does not satisfy the 
whole of the inquiry, since they want to know 
what has determined the value of the capital, 
the answer is easy. The value of the capital 
was probably determined by the value of pre- 
ceding capital, which was in its turn deter- 
mined by preceding capital in the same manner. 
Does any one ask, what determined the value of 
the first of these capitals, trace them as far