ABSTRACT
1 The cost, to the purchaser, is the price he pays for any article, added to the cost of verifying the fact of its having that degree of goodness for which he contracts. In some cases the goodness of the article is evident on mere inspection: and in these cases there is not much difference of price at different shops. The goodness of loaf sugar, for instance, can be discerned almost at a glance; and the consequence is, that the price of it is so uniform, and the profit upon it so small, that no grocer is at all anxious to sell it whilst, on the other hand, tea, of which it is exceedingly difficult to judge, and which can be adulterated by mixture so as to deceive even the skill of a practised eye, has a great variety of different prices, and is that article which every grocer is most anxious to sell to his customers.
