When _Rossi_, Cours d’Economie politique, 1835, L. 2, says: _tout chose propre à satisfaire aux besoins de l’homme est richesse_, he demonstrates how the frequent inaccuracy of the French language stands in the way of a close analysis. The greater number of more recent definitions are true of resources rather than of wealth. _Bastiat_ distinguishes between _richesse effective_ and _relative_, the former being based on _utilité_, the latter on _valeur_. (Harmonies, ch. 6.) 99 The national wealth of Athens, at the time of the hundredth Olympiad, is estimated by _Böckh_ (Staatshaushalt der Athen, I, p. 636, 2d ed.) to have been from thirty to forty thousand talents, besides the non-taxable property of the state. That of Great Britain is estimated at about 8,000 million pounds sterling. (Athenæum 5 March, 1853.) _Wolowski_ estimated that of France at, at least, 116 milliards of francs, with an annual increase of 1-½ milliards, (L’or et l’Argent, 1870. Enquête, 59.) _David A. Wells_ estimated that of the United States, in 1860, slaves not included, at 14,183 million dollars, or $451.20 per capita, whereas in England, the per capita wealth was about $1,000. (_Hildebrand’s_ Jahib., 1870, I, 431.) The national wealth of the kingdom of Saxony is equal to 600 million thalers immovable, and 600 million movable, property. (_Engel_, Statist. Zeitschr. August, 1856). That of Würtemberg=2,710 million florins, of which 700 millions represent movable goods, and 100 million, claims on foreign countries. (Statistisches Handbuch, 1863.) Of course all these estimates are very inexact. _ 100 Ch. Dupin_, Forces productives, p. 82. See _infra_, § 230. 101 Compare _Meidinger_, Das britische Reich in Europa, pp. 79, 238, 261. _ 102 Davenant_ considers an increase in the number of houses, ships and stocks of goods, as the surest sign of an increase in the national wealth; and on the other hand, a high rate of interest, a low price of land, small wages, a decrease of population, and an increase of uncultivated land, as the signs of national impoverishment. (Works, I, pp. 354, seq. II, p. 283.) _Sir M. Decker_, Essay on the Causes of Decline of Foreign Trade (1744), 3, gives as the signs of impoverishment, the following: a wretched condition of the poor and of manufactures, a low price of wool, long credit to retail dealers, frequent cases of bankruptcy, exportation of the metals, unfavorable exchange, few new coins, many cases of unpaid rent of leased land, and high poor rates. _ 103 Storch_, Handbuch, I, 45. Compare _infra_, § 187. 104 On the difference between human and animal economy, see _Schön_, Neue Untersuchungen der N. Œkonomie, (1835), 4. 105 Compare _Schäffle_, System, III, Aufl. I, 2, 28.