ON THE NATURE

any others. But it will be found, that, in speaking
 of the value of a being equal to the value
of B, we are led to use the expression by the
constant reference which we unavoidably make
to the relations of these commodities to other
commodities, particularly to money, and the
import of our language, in its whole extent, is,
that a and B bear an equal relation to a third
commodity, or to commodities in general.
It is from this circumstance of constant reference
 to other commodities, or to money,
when we are speaking of the relation between
any two commodities, that the notion of value,
as something intrinsic and absolute, has arisen.
When we compare objects with each other as
exchangeable commodities, two relations necessarily
 mix themselves in our comparison —
the mutual relation of the objects, and their relations
 to other objects; and it is these latter
which occasion the semblance of absolute
value, because they seem independent of the
former, which is the immediate object of our
attention. Indeed, it is generally by their relation
 to a third commodity, that we can at all