IV CAPITAL — THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 151 



essentially consists of savings from the food-stuffs 

 supplied to the mother. And these savings are 

 in such a j^hysical and chemical condition that 

 the organism of the child can easily convert them 

 into work-stuff. That is to say, by borrowing 

 directly from the vital capital of the mother, 

 indirectly from the store in the natural bodies 

 accessible to her, it can make good the loss of 

 its own. The operation of borrowing, however, 

 involves further work ; that is, the labour of 

 sucking, which is a mechanical operation of much 

 the same nature as breathing. Tlie child thus 

 pays for the capital it borrows in labour ; but as 

 the value in work-stuff of the milk obtained is 

 very far greater than the value of that labour, 

 estimated by the consumption of work-stuff it 

 involves, the operation yields a large profit to the 

 infant. The overplus of food-stuff suffices to in- 

 crease the child's capital of work-stuff; and to 

 supply not only the materials for the enlargement 

 of the " buildings and machinery " which is ex- 

 pressed by the child's growth, but also the energy 

 required to put all these materials together, and 

 to carry them to their proper places. Thus, 

 throughout the years of infancy, and so long 

 thereafter as the youth or man is not thrown 

 upon his own resources, he lives by consuming 

 the vital capital provided by others. To use a 

 terminology which is more common than appro- 

 priate, whatever work he performs (and he does 



