224, ON THE CAUSES

correctly said to be determined by the quantity
of capital expended upon it by the manufacturer,
 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 deriving
 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 preceding
 capital, which was in its turn determined
 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