First; The author of the Critical Dissertation on Value has commenced his work by a description of it, in which I entirely agree with him. He says, as I have before stated, that “value, in its ultimate sense, appears to mean the esteem in which any object is held. But it is obvious that the degree of this esteem cannot be measured by comparing it with another commodity about which we know as little as of the first. The comparison with money would leave us as much in the dark as ever, if we did not previously know the estimation in which money was held.”[85] Even the mere _relative_ values of two commodities cannot be inferred by putting them side by side, and looking at them for any length of time. Before we can attain even this partial conclusion, we must refer each of them to the desires of man, and the means of production; that is, we must make a previous comparison, in order to ascertain the value of each before we can venture to say what relation one bears to the other. It is this primary comparison which, independently of any secondary comparison, determines the estimation in which the commodity is held. And as this primary comparison can only be represented by the exchange with labour, it is certain that, if we define the value of a commodity to be the estimation in which it is held, the quantity of labour which it will command can alone measure this estimation. Secondly: Locke, most justly looking to the foundation of all value, considers the value of commodities as determined by the proportion of their quantity to their vent, or of the supply to the demand; but the varying vent or demand for one commodity cannot possibly be represented by the varying quantity of another commodity for which it is exchanged, unless the second commodity remain steady in regard to labour. If at one time I give two pounds of hops for a yard of cloth, and at another time only one, it does not at all follow that the demand for cloth has diminished; on the contrary, it may be increased, and in giving the value of one pound of hops, I may have enabled the cloth manufacturer to set more men to work, and to obtain higher profits than when I gave the value of two pounds. But the demand for a commodity, though not proportioned to the _quantity_ of any other commodity which the purchaser is willing and able to give for it, is really proportioned to _the quantity of labour_ which he will give for it; and for this reason: the quantity of labour which a commodity will _ordinarily_ command, represents exactly the effectual demand for it; because it represents exactly that of labour and profits united necessary to effect its supply;[86] while the _actual_ quantity of labour which a commodity will command when it differs from the _ordinary_ quantity, represents the excess or defect of demand arising from temporary causes. If then looking to the foundation of all value, namely; the limitation of the supply as compared with the wants of mankind, we consider the value of