hand, people like the Dutch live upon very poor bits of land, and yet
become wealthy by skill, industry and providence. The fact is that
wealth is more due to labour and ingenuity than to a good soil or
climate; but all these things are needed in order that people shall
become as rich as the inhabitants of England, France, the United States,
or Australia.

#5. What is Wealth?# Nassau Senior, one of the best writers on political
economy, defined #wealth# in these words: #Under that term we comprehend
all those things, and those things only, which are transferable, are
limited in supply, and are directly or indirectly productive of
pleasure, or preventive of pain.# It is necessary to understand, in the
first place, exactly what Senior meant. According to him, whatever is
comprehended under wealth must have three distinct qualities, and
whatever has these three qualities must be a part of wealth. If these
qualities are rightly chosen, we get a correct definition, which, as
explained in the _Logic Primer_ (section 44), is a precise statement of
the qualities which are just sufficient to make out a class, and to tell
us what things belong to it and what do not. Instead, however, of the
long phrase "directly or indirectly productive of pleasure or preventive
of pain," we may substitute the single word #useful#, and we may then
state the definition in this simple way:--

{ (1) #transferable#.
#Wealth = what is# { (2) #limited in supply#.
{ (3) #useful#.

We still need to learn exactly what is meant by the three qualities of
wealth; we must learn what it is to be transferable, limited in supply,
and useful.

#6. Wealth is transferable.# By being #transferable#, we mean that a
thing can be passed over (Latin, _trans_, across, and _fero_, I carry)
from one person to another. Sometimes things can be literally handed
over, like a watch or a book; sometimes they can be transferred by a
written deed, or by legal possession, as in the case of land and houses;
services, also, can be transferred, as when a footman hires himself to a
master. Even a musician or a preacher transfers his services, when his
auditors have the benefit of hearing him. But there are many desirable
things which cannot be transferred from one person to another; a rich
man can hire a footman, but he cannot buy the footman's good health; he
can hire the services of the best physician, but if these services fail
to restor