Goods are anything which can be used, whether directly or indirectly, for the satisfaction of any true(56) or legitimate human want,(57) and whose utility, for this purpose, is recognized. Hence, the idea goods is an essentially relative one. Every change in man’s wants, or knowledge, is accompanied by a rapid, corresponding change, either in the limits of the circle(58) of goods, or in their relative importance. Thus, the tobacco plant has, probably, existed thousands of years. It became goods, however, only from the time that man recognized its use for smoking, snuffing etc., and experienced the want of it for these purposes. In a similar way, the limestone of the Solenhofen quarries has become _goods_, of considerable importance, only since the invention of lithography; decaying bones, only since that of bone-dust manure; caoutchouc since about 1825, and gutta-percha, only since 1844. On the other hand, charms,(59) philters, and even relics, since the decay of faith in their efficacy, have lost the quality of goods. If the aggregate income of all mankind were, by some sudden revolution, to be equally divided among all, diamonds, for instance, would greatly decline in value, for the reason that it is dependent, in great part, on the wants generated by vanity, or by the desire of outshining others. Beer, tobacco etc., would rise in the scale as goods, because the circle of those to whose wants they minister would have been very greatly extended. On the whole, advancement in civilization has uniformly the effect, of itself, to increase the quantity and number of goods, the wants and knowledge of men being thereby increased. We should reach the ideal here, if all men experienced only true or legitimate wants, but these completely; if they could see their way, clearly, to the satisfaction of them, and find the means of satisfying them with just the amount of effort most conducive to their physico-intellectual development.(60) Section II. Goods.—Economic Goods.