ABSTRACT
A product consumed is a value lost to the entire world and to all eternity; but the further consequence will depend upon the circumstances and nature of the consumption. On the contrary, productive consumption, besides yielding no immediate or present gratification, requires an exertion of combined labour and skill, or, of what has all along been denominated, industry. Sometimes a producer is the consumer of his own product; as when the farmer eats his own poultry or vegetables; or the clothier wears his own cloth. But, the objects of human consumption being far more varied and numerous, than the objects of each person’s production respectively, most operations of consumption are preceded by a process of barter. The fuel burnt, serves either to give warmth, or to cook victuals, boil dyeing ingredients and thereby to increase their value. There is no utility in the mere gratuitous act of burning that of warmth for instance; in which case, the consumption is unproductive.
