of the same value; the wine being subject to an infinity of accidents which can in an instant cause him to lose its entire price.
S39
Every commodity has the two essential properties of money, those of measuring and representing all value; &, in this sense, every commodity is money.
These two properties, of serving as a common measure of all values and of being a representative pledge of all the commodities of a like value, include all that constitutes the essence and utility of what is called money; and it follows from the details into which I have just entered that all commodities are, in some respects, money, and share, more or less according to the nature of each, in these two essential properties. All are more or less suitable to serve as a common measure in proportion as they are in general use, of similar quality, and easy to divide into parts of an equal value. All are more or less fit to be a universal pledge of exchanges, in proportion as they are less or more susceptible to deterioration and alteration in their quantity or in their quality.
S40
Reciprocally, all money is essentially merchandise.
We can take for a common measure of values only that which has a value, and which is received in Commerce in exchange for other values: and there is no pledge universally representative of a value save another equal value. A purely conventional money is therefore an impossibility.
