670 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



study in philosophy and political economy. He presents the subject 

 in a moral and philosophical view, in the light of the history of lux- 

 ury, and with the aid of the side-lights of the judgments which have 

 been expressed upon it at different epochs, from which citations are 

 made. 



It is first necessary to understand the sense in which the word lux- 

 ury is used. I designate as an object of luxury everything that does 

 not answer to some primary need, and which, costing much money and 

 consequently much labor, is within the reach of only a small number 

 of persons. An extravagant consumption is one that destroys the 

 product of many days of labor without bringing any rational satisfac- 

 tion to the one who makes it, as when a ballroom queen spoils in the 

 whirls of the dance a lace robe worth ten thousand francs, destroying 

 in a moment the equivalent of fifty thousand- hours of eye-taxing 

 labor. What advantage does any one derive from the waste ? It fol- 

 lows from our definition that an object may be a luxury at one time 

 and cease to be so at another, when it can be procured without great 

 expense. As Roscher says,* the motive here is wholly relative. Each 

 people and each age considers that which it is in the habit of doing 

 without as superfluous. The chronicle of Holinshed complains of the 

 refinements of the English of his time (1577), who introduced chim- 

 neys instead of letting the smoke escape through the holes in the roof, 

 and used dishes of earthenware or tin instead of the wooden vessels 

 with which they had got along before. Another author of the same 

 time, Slaney, " On Rural Expenditure," was indignant at the employ- 

 ment of oak instead of willow in building, saying : " Formerly the 

 houses were of willow, and the men of oak ; now it is the contrary." 

 When calicoes and muslins were first brought from the Indies, only 

 the rich could wear them ; now working-people think lightly of them. 

 The progress of art is thus constantly bringing more objects within 

 the reach of the greatest number ; but the definition remains that that 

 is extravagant which is at the same time superfluous and dear. 



From his analysis of the feelings which give rise to luxury, M. 

 Baudrillart educes three which he considers natural and universal : 

 vanity, sensuality, and the instinct for adornment. Vanity makes one 

 desire to be distinguished and to surpass others in appearance ; to pass 

 before the crowd, that admires riches and power, as powerful and rich. 

 When a woman pays ten thousand dollars for a necklace of fine pearls, 

 she does not do it simply to possess something handsome and adorn 

 herself, for false pearls would be more shapely and quite as lustrous, 

 but because the costly necklace will be the emblem and sign of her 

 opulence. People when they see it will say she is rich, and her lesser 

 rivals will be jealous, adding a seasoning to her vanity. In the grati- 

 fication of this feeling we seek satisfaction in a factitious existence in 

 the opinions of other persons. It is a general sentiment, and has a 

 * " Die Grundlagen der Nationalokonomie," iv, 2. 



