CHAPTER IV. 
ON PROFITS. 
In the last chapter I endeavoured to explain 
the true meaning of the value of labour, and 
to show, that a rise or fall of labour implies an 
increase or decrease in the quantity of the 
commodity given in exchange for it. 
A rise or fall of profits is sometimes spoken 
of as analogous to a rise or fall of labour or of 
wages. But profits cannot be regarded as 
analogous to wages. Labour is an exchange- 
able thing, or one which commands other 
things in exchange; but the term profits de- 
notes only a share or proportion of commodi- 
ties, not an article which can be exchanged 
against other articles. When we ask whether