perished not uselesly in his possession, these he also made use of. And
if he also bartered away plums, that would have rotted in a week, for
nuts that would last good for his eating a whole year, he did no injury;
he wasted not the common stock; destroyed no part of the portion of goods
that belonged to others, so long as nothing perished uselesly in his
hands. Again, if he would give his nuts for a piece of metal, pleased
with its colour; or exchange his sheep for shells, or wool for a
sparkling pebble or a diamond, and keep those by him all his life he
invaded not the right of others, he might heap up as much of these
durable things as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just
property not lying in the largeness of his possession, but the perishing
of any thing uselesly in it.
Sec. 47. And thus came in the use of money, some lasting thing that
men might keep without spoiling, and that by mutual consent men would
take in exchange for the truly useful, but perishable supports of life.
Sec. 48. And as different degrees of industry were apt to give men
possessions in different proportions, so this invention of money gave
them the opportunity to continue and enlarge them: for supposing an
island, separate from all possible commerce with the rest of the world,
wherein there were but an hundred families, but there were sheep, horses
and cows, with other useful animals, wholsome fruits, and land enough for
corn for a hundred thousand times as many, but nothing in the island,
either because of its commonness, or perishableness, fit to supply the
place of money; what reason could any one have there to enlarge his
possessions beyond the use of his family, and a plentiful supply to its
consumption, either in what their own industry produced, or they could
barter for like perishable, useful commodities, with others? Where there
is not some thing, both lasting and scarce, and so valuable to be hoarded
up, there men will not be apt to enlarge their possessions of land, were
it never so rich, never so free for them to take: for I ask, what would a