0  WEALTH   DEFINED.  BOOK   I.
It  is  true,  that  in  this  condition  of  the  land  it  may  hap-
pen, and  indeed  often  does  happen,  that  particular  parts  of
it  increase  in  value  without  any  labour  at  all  being  bestowed
upon  them,  from  the  increase  of  wealth  and  population,  and
the  expenditure  of  labour  and  capital  on  the  parts  adja-
cent; and  if  this  should  be  thought  an  exception  to  the
universality  of  the  proposition  above  stated,  or  an  objection
of  sufficient  weight,  our  definition  might  easily  be  modified
so  as  to  obviate  this  objection,  by  the  addition  of  the  words,
"  land  under  particular  conditions  and  circumstances."  But
the  truth  appears  to  be,  that  this  seeming  exception,  even
if  it  were  more  than  seeming,  is  at  all  events  so  slight  and
inconsiderable,  as  hardly  to  deserve  or  require  more  particu-
lar notice.*

This,  then,  it  appears,  we  may  set  down  as  one  distin-
guishing characteristic  of  wealth,  that  those  objects  whereof
it  consists,  are  only  to  be  produced  or  procured  originally
by  the  help  of  human  labour.
In  its  most  enlarged  sense,  the  term  wealth  may  perhaps
be  understood  to  signify  abundance  of  every  good  thing,  and
may  thus  be  allowed  to  include  the  free  bounties  of  nature ;
but,  as  it  is  the  object  of  political  science,  and  of  political
justice,  or  of  law  and  government,  it  must  be  confined  to
those  good  things  which  are  bought  with  a  price,  which
price  must  consist,  either  wholly  or  in  part?  of  the  labour
and  sweat  of  mankind  themselves.
II.  That  sort  of  wealth  which  is  the  object  of  political
science,  must  be  capable  of  being  alienated  or  transferred
from  one  to  another.
