Page:The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States.djvu/60

38 but also of all the hardships suffered by the manufacturers and the poor in general: it seems, therefore, to be the cause of the whole evil. This being the case, the nature and effects of wealth ought to be inquired into; which we now proceed to do.

Author:Adam Smith, in his elaborate work on the "Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations," has nowhere given any definition of it.

We have before said that wealth is usually supposed to consist in the possession of such things as mankind, by general consent, set a value on, as land, cattle, gold, silver, precious stones, &c. But it seems doubtful whether such things can be considered as constituting the essence and nature of wealth, since the possession of them may sometimes be so circumstanced that they may be of no value to the possessor; for instance, lands in some uninhabited parts of America. Gold, silver, precious stones, and every other article of that kind, may be, on many occasions, and in many places and circumstances, of no value or use to the owner; and they are to be considered as wealth only in such