THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

2G3

session of tlie butcher, the grazier, the farmer, the corn-merchant, the brewer, &c. and from the sale of which theyexpect to derive a profit:

Thirdly, of the materials, whether altogether rude, ormore or less manufactured, of clothes, furniture, and building,which arc not yet made up into any of those three shapes, butwhich remain in the hands of the growers, the manufacturers,the mercers and drapers, the timber-merchants, the carpentersand joiners, the brick-makers, See.

Fourthly, and lastly, of the work which is made up andcompleted, but which is still in the hands of the merchantand manufacturer, and not yet disposed of or distributed tothe proper consumers; such as the finished work which wefrequently find ready-made in the shops of the smith, the ca-binet-maker, the goldsmith, the jeweller, the china-merchant,&c. The circulating capital consists, in this manner, of theprovisions, materials, and finished work of all kinds that arein the hands of their respective dealers, and of the money thatis necessary for circulating and distributing them to those whoare finally to use or to consume them.

Of these four parts, three, provisions, materials, andfinished work, are, either annually, or in a longer or shorterperiod, regularly withdrawn from it, and placed either in thefixed capital, or in the stock reserved for immediate consump-tion.

Every fixed capital is both originally derived from, and re-quires to be continually supported by, a circulating capital.All useful machines and instruments of trade are originallyderived from a circulating capital which furnishes the mate-rials of which they are made, and the maintenance of theworkmen who make them. They require too a capital of thesame kind to keep them in constant repair.

No fixed capital can yield any revenue but by means of acirculating capital. The most useful machines and instru-ments of trade will produce nothing without the circulatingcapital which affords the materials they arc employed upon,and the maintenance of the workmen who employ them.Land, however improved, will.yield no revenue without acirculating capital, which maintains the labourers who culti-vate and collect its produce.

To maintain and augment the stock which may be reservedfor immediate consumption, is the sole end and purpose bothof the fixed and circulating capitals. It is this stock which