individuals, and a fortiori of different amounts, is proverbial. The very same things may to the same individual be productive of more utility simply owing to a change in his tastes or habits, and a different distribution of the very same things, which make up the wealth of a nation, might indefinitely change the quantity of utility; but it would be paradoxical to say that the wealth had increased because it was put to better uses.
We thus seem thrown back on value as the essential characteristic, allowance being made for any change in the standard of value; but there are still difficulties to be overcome. Some things that undoubtedly possess value or that can command a price are immaterial, e.g. the advice of a lawyer or physician or the song of a prima donna, and, although perhaps the skill of a workman (in any grade of the social scale) might be considered as attached to the man, as a coal mine is attached to a place, it is more in accordance with popular usage to consider skill as immaterial, whilst at the same time it seems equally natural prima facie to confine the term wealth to material things in the common sense. Again, the credit system of a country is a product of great labour and sacrifice, it is most closely connected with the production of its material wealth in the narrowest sense, and it certainly commands a pecuniary value, and yet credit is more generally held to be a representative rather than a part of wealth, owing apparently to its insubstantial character. Apart from the question of materiality some writers have insisted on relative permanence and possibility of accumulation as essential attributes of wealth, and have thus still further narrowed the scope of the definition.
There can be no doubt that it is on many grounds desirable in economics to use terms as far as possible in their popular acceptations; but this rule must always be subordinate to the primary object in view. In nearly every department of knowledge in which popular terms have been retained it has been found necessary either constantly to use qualifying adjectives where the context is not a sufficient guide, and in some cases, when analysis discloses very different elements, to make a selection. Sometimes it has been found convenient to use a term with some variation in the definition according to the branch of the subject in hand.[1] Applying these rules to the definition of wealth, perhaps the best solution is that which is generally connected with German economists (e.g. Adolf von Held). Wealth consists of utilities, and in the first great department of economics—the consumption of wealth—it is utility with which we are principally concerned—the idea of value, for example, being overshadowed. The most general law of the consumption of wealth is that successive portions of any stock give a diminishing amount of utility when consumed. Then in the department of the production of wealth the most important characteristics are the labour and sacrifice necessary to put the utilities desired into the things and to place the things where they are wanted. The idea of value is again secondary and subordinate. We can readily see the part played by nature, labour and capital respectively in the production of any commodity without considering the effects on its value of the various factors, we can understand the principles of division of labour and of the relative productiveness of large and small industries without entering into questions of value except in the most general manner. In the department of the distribution of wealth the fundamental conception is the right of appropriation; and accordingly J. S. Mill very properly commences this part of his subject by an account of the relative advantages of the socialistic and individual systems of property. It is quite possible under the former to conceive of all the distribution being made without any exchange and with reference simply to the wants or the deserts of the members of the society. Thus it is not until we arrive at the department of the exchange of wealth that the characteristic of value becomes predominant, although of course value is closely connected with utility and labour and sacrifice.
Usually, however, it will be found that in most cases anything which can fairly be classed as wealth in one department is also wealth in the others, and thus the definition is reached that wealth in general consists of all “consumable utilities which require labour for their production and can be appropriated and exchanged.”
It only remains to add that “utilities” may be divided into “inner” and “outer” (to translate the German literally)—the “inner” being such as are simply sources of personal gratification to their possessor, e.g. a good ear for music; the “outer” utilities again may be divided into “free” and “economic,” the former, as a rule, e.g. sunlight, not being the result of labour and not capable of appropriation or exchange, and the latter as a rule possessing each of these marks. It is these “economic utilities” which constitute wealth in the specific sense of the term, although its use may be extended by analogy to include almost all utilities.
See A. Marshall, Principles of Economics (1907); J. B. Clark, Philosophy of Wealth (1886) and Distribution of Wealth (1899); W. E. Hearn, Plutology (1864); F. A. Walker, Political Economy (1888); and J. S. Nicholson, Principles of Political Economy (1903). (J. S. N.)
WEAPON (O. Eng. wæpen, cf. Du. wapen, Ger. Wappe, also Wappen, a coat of arms, heraldic shield), any instrument of offence or defence, more usually a term confined to offensive or attacking instruments. The general sketch of the history and development of weapons of offence and defence is given under Arms and Armour; particular weapons are treated under such heads as Halberd, Lance, Spear, Sword, Gun, Pistol, Rifle, Ordnance and Machine-guns.
WEAR, a river of Durham, England, rising in the Pennine chain near the Cumberland border, and traversing a valley about 60 m. in length to the North Sea, with a drainage area of 458 sq. m. A series of streams draining from the hills between Killhope Law and Burnhope Seat (2452 ft.) are collected at Wearhead, up to which point the valley is traversed by a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Hence eastward, past the small towns of St John's Chapel and Stanhope, and as far as that of Wolsingham, Weardale is narrow and picturesque, sharply aligned by high-lying moorland. Below, it takes a south-easterly bend as far as Bishop Auckland, then turns northward and north-eastward, the course of the river becoming extremely sinuous. The scenery is particularly fine where the river sweeps round the bold peninsula which bears the cathedral and castle of the city of Durham. The valley line continues northerly until Chester-le-Street is passed, then it turns north-east; and soon the river becomes navigable, carrying a great traffic in coal, and having its banks lined with factories. At the mouth is the large seaport of Sunderland.
WEASEL (Putorius nivalis), the smallest European species of the group of mammals of which the polecat and stoat are well-known members (see Carnivora). The weasel is an elegant little animal, with elongated slender body, back much arched, head small and flattened, ears short and rounded, neck long and flexible, limbs short, five toes on each foot, all with sharp, compressed, curved claws, tail rather short, slender, cylindrical, and pointed at the tip, and fur short and close. The upper-parts, outside of limbs and tail, are uniform reddish brown, the under-parts white. In cold regions the weasel turns white in winter, but less regularly and only at a lower temperature than the stoat or ermine, from which it is distinguished by its smaller size and the absence of the black tail-tip. The length of the head and body of the male is usually about 8 in., that of the tail 2½ in.; the female is smaller. The weasel is generally distributed throughout Europe and Northern and Central Asia; and is represented by a closely allied animal in North America. It possesses all the active, courageous and bloodthirsty disposition of the rest of the genus, but its diminutive size prevents it attacking and destroying any but the smaller mammals and birds. Mice, rats, water-rats and moles, as well as frogs, constitute its principal food. It is generally found on or near the surface of the ground, but it can not only pursue its prey through holes and crevices of rocks and under dense tangled herbage, but follow it up the
- ↑ On the uses and difficulties of definitions in political economy compare H. Sidgwick's Principles of Political Economy, bk. i. ch. ii., and J. N. Keynes's Scope and Method of Political Economy.
