a. Hoarding 166 b. Means of Payment 185 c. World Money 201 4. The Precious Metals 208 C. Theories of the Medium of Circulation and of Money 215 Appendix. Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy 264 1. Production in General 265 2. The General Relation of Production to Distribution, Exchange, and Consumption 274 3. The Method of Political Economy 292 4. Production, Means of Production, and Conditions of Production 306 Index 313 CAPITAL IN GENERAL. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. COMMODITIES. At first sight the wealth of society under the capitalist system presents itself as an immense accumulation of commodities, its unit being a single commodity. But every commodity has a twofold aspect, that of _use value_ and _exchange value_.[2] A commodity is first of all, in the language of English economists, “any thing necessary, useful or pleasant in life,” an object of human wants, a means of existence in the broadest sense of the word. This property of commodities to serve as use-values coincides with their natural palpable existence. Wheat e. g. is a distinct use-value differing from the use-values cotton, glass, paper, etc. Use-value has a value only in use and is realized only in the process of consumption. The same use-value may be utilized in various ways. But the extent of its possible applications is circumscribed by its distinct properties. Furthermore, it is thus limited not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. According to their natural properties the various use-values have different measures, such as a bushel of wheat, a quire of paper, a yard of linen, etc.