ABSTRACT
As a sign money represents every other kind of wealth; by transmittimg it from hand to hand the authors transmit a right to all other values. It is not money itself which the daylabourer requires; but food, clothing, lodging, of which it is the sign. Money indeed represents all other capital, but it is itself the capital of no man; it is always barren by nature, and wealth does not begin to increase till the moment one has gotten rid of it. In work and advances of all sorts employed in extracting it from the mine, it has cost a value equal to what it passes for in the world. But the high price at which society acquires money, though at first view it appears an inconvenience, is precisely what gives it the merit of being an imperishable pledge for its possessions.
