248 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

reasoner carried him to the truth, although into some apparent
 inconsistency; for he adds, But the value or
price of all commodities, amongst which money passing in
trade is truly one, consisting in proportion, you alter this,
as you do all other proportions, whether you increase one,
or lessen the other.” — Considerations on the lowering of
Interest and raising the Value of Money.
It may be further remarked on the former of these passages,
 that, taking him on his own theory, the measure which
he describes, like the measures of other economists, would
not enable us to ascertain any variations of value, for these
are necessarily exhibited in the prices of commodities, but
would indicate in which commodities the changes originated.
 While money remained unaltered as to the causes
of value operating upon it, which it would do on his principles
 as long as it remained the same in quantity, all variations
 in the prices of commodities must necessarily proceed
 from alterations in the proportion between the quantities
 of such commodities and their vent, and this is all
that, under the circumstances supposed, Mr. Locke’s standing
 measure would show.
On reviewing this subject from first to last, it appears
to me, that nearly the whole of the vagueness, confusion,
and perplexity in which it has been involved, may be traced
to an unconscious vacillation between two distinct ideas.
There are evidently two senses in which the term measur.
ing value is employed, and it is the unconscious passing