NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 243

value, is alone the ultimate and real standard by which the
value of all commodities can at all times and places be estimated
 and compared.” — Wealth of Nations, by Adam
Smith, book i, chap. 5.
¢¢ That money, therefore, which constantly preserves.an
equal value, which poises itself, as it were, in a just equilibrium
 between the fluctuating proportion of the value of
things, is the only permanent and equal scale by which value
can be measured.” — An Inquiry into the Principles of
Pol. Econ., by Sir James Stuart, book iii, chap. 1.
«¢ Incapacities of the Metals to perform the Office of
an invariable Measure of Value.” — Ibid. Title to chap. iii,
book 3.
«¢ Ag nothing can be a real measure of magnitude and
quantity, which is subject to variations in its own dimengions,
 so nothing can be a real measure of the value of
other commodities, which is constantly varying in its own
value.” — An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public
 Wealth, by the Earl of Lauderdale, page 25, second edit.
¢¢ Le principal caractére d'un mesure est d’dtre invariable.
 Clest en appliquant successivement une mesure
invariable & des quantités variable, qu'on peut se former
une idée de leur rapports; mais guand on applique une
mesure variable 3 des quantités qui le sont aussi, on n’apprend
 rien. Une poignée, une coudée, ne sont pas des mesures
 propre i comparer les dimensions, puisqu'elles varient
 dans chaque individu; il en serait de méme d'un nu-