“If one buys fiddles, hoards them up when bought, Though music’s study ne’er engaged his thought, One lasts and awls, unversed in cobbler’s craft, One sails for ships, not knowing fore from aft, You’d call them mad: but tell me, if you please, How that man’s case is different from these, Who as he gets it, stows away his gain, And thinks to touch a farthing were profane?” (Transl. by John Covington, London, 1874, p. 60.) Mr. Senior understands the question much better: “L’argent paraît être la seule chose dont le désir est universel, et il en est ainsi parceque l’argent est _une richesse abstraite_ et parceque les hommes, en la possédant peuvent satisfaire à tous leur besoins de quelque nature qu’ils soient.” (“Principes Fondamentaux de l’Economie Politique, tirés de leçons edites et inedites de N. W. Senior, par Comte Jean Arrivabene,” Paris, 1836, p. 221. The corresponding passage in the English edition of his Political Economy, London, 1863, is to be found on p. 27. Translator.) So does Storch: “Since money represents all other forms of wealth, it is only necessary to accumulate it to provide for oneself all kinds of wealth existing in the world.” (l. c., v. 2, p. 134.) [98] To what extent the inner man of the commodity owner remains unchanged, even when he has become civilized and has developed into a capitalist, is shown by the example of a London representative of a cosmopolitan banking house who adopted as a fitting coat of arms for his family a £100,000 bank note, which he had hung up in a glass frame. The point here is in the mocking contempt of the note for circulation. [99] See the passage from Xenophon, quoted below. [100] Jacob, l. c., v. 2, ch. 25 and 26. [101] “In times of great agitation and insecurity, especially during internal commotions or invasions, gold and silver articles are rapidly converted into money; whilst during periods of tranquility and prosperity, money is converted into plate and jewelry.” (l. c., v. 2, p. 357.)