CHAPTER I
 

                   INTRODUCTION



The science  of  Political  Economy rests upon  a few

notions of an apparently simple character.  Utility,

wealth, value, commodity, labour,  land,  capital, are

the  elements of the  subject;  and whoever  has  a

thorough comprehension of their nature must possess

or be soon able to acquire a knowledge of the  whole

science.  As almost  every  economical  writer  has

remarked, it  is in treating the simple elements that

we require the most care and precision, since the least

error of conception must vitiate all our  deductions.

Accordingly,  I have devoted the following pages to

an investigation  of the conditions and relations of the

above-named notions.

    Repeated reflection and  inquiry have led  me to

the  somewhat   novel  opinion,  that  value  depends

entirely upon  utility.   Prevailing  opinions  make

labour  rather than  utility the  origin  of value; and

there are even those who  distinctly assert that  labour

is the cause  of value.   I show, on  the contrary, that

we have only to trace  out carefully the natural laws