ADAM SMITH. 203 



valent, though it could not be carried from the spot of its 

 production, and could last only a second in our hands upon 

 that spot. The musician, in reality, affects our senses by 

 modulating the air ; i. e., he works upon the air, and renders 

 a certain portion of it worth more than it was before he 

 manufactured it. He communicates this value to it only for 

 a moment, and in one place; there and then we are obliged 

 to consume it. A glassblower, again, prepares some metal 

 for our amusement or instruction, and blows it up to a great 

 volume. He has now fixed his labour to a tangible com- 

 modity. He then exchanges it, or gives it to us, that we 

 may immediately use it; i. e., blow it until it flies to shivers. 

 He has fixed his labour, however, we say, in a vendible com- 

 modity. But we may desire his further assistance we may 

 require him to use it for our benefit ; and, without any pause 

 in his process of blowing, he bursts it. This case approaches 

 as nearly as possible to that of the musician ; yet Dr. Smith 

 maintains that the latter is a different kind of labour from 

 the former. Nay, according to him, the labour of the glass- 

 blower is productive, if he spoils the process, and defeats the 

 end of the experiment, by pausing, and giving into unskilful 

 hands the bubble before it bursts. But if he performs the 

 whole of that instructive operation, by contemplating which 

 Sir Isaac Newton was taught the nature of colour, his labour 

 must be denominated unproductive ! 



But it is not fair to deny that the class called unproductive 

 fixes its labour in some existing commodity. First, we may 

 observe that no labour, not even that of the farmer, can lay 

 claim to the quality of actually adding to the stock already 

 in existence: man never creates; he only modifies the mass 

 of matter previously in his possession. But, next, the class 

 alluded to does actually, like the class termed unproductive, 

 realize its labour in an additional value conferred upon the 

 stock formerly existing. The only difference is, that instead 

 of working upon detached portions, this class operates upon 

 the stock of the community in general. Thus, the soldier 

 renders every portion of the stock more valuable by securing 

 the whole from plunder; and the judge, by securing the whole 

 from injury. Dr. Smith would allow that man to be a pro- 



