to be
regarded as the wages of a particular sort of labour, the labour of
inspection and direction; for they are regulated altogether by the value
of the stock employed, and are greater or smaller in proportion to the
extent of this stock.

There is in every society or neighbourhood an ordinary or average rate
both of wages and profit in every different employment of labour and
stock; and this rate is regulated partly by the general circumstances of
the society, its richness or poverty, and partly by the peculiar nature
of each employment. There is also in every society or neighbourhood an
ordinary or average rate of rent, which is regulated too by the general
circumstances of the society or neighbourhood in which the land is
situated, and partly by the natural or improved fertility of the land.
What we may call the natural price of any commodity depends upon these
natural rates of wages, profit and rent, at the place where it is
produced. But its market price may be above, below, or identical with
its natural price, and depends upon the proportion between the supply
and the demand.

_II.--Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock_

When the stock which a man possesses is no more than sufficient to
maintain him for a few days or weeks, he seldom thinks of deriving any
revenue from it; but when he possesses enough to maintain him for months
or years, he endeavours to derive a revenue from the greater part of it.
The part of his stock from which he expects to derive revenue is called
his capital.

There are two ways in which capital may be employed so as to yield a
profit to its employer. First, it may be employed in raising,
manufacturing, or purchasing goods, and selling them again with a
profit; this is circulating capital. Secondly, it may be employed in the
improvement of land, or in the purchase of machines and instruments; and
this capital, which yields a profit from objects which do not change
masters, is called fixed capital.

The general stock of any country or society is the same as that of all
its inhabitants or members, and is therefore divided into the same three
portions, each of which has a different function. The first is the
portion which is reserved for immediate consumption, and so affords no
revenue or profit. The second is the fixed capital, which consists of

(_a_) all useful machines and instruments of trade which
facilitate and abridge labour;

(_b_) all profitable buildings,