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Fourthly, of the acquired and useful abilities of all the

inhabitants and members of the society. The acquisition of such

talents, by the maintenance of the acquirer during his education,

study, or apprenticeship, always costs a real expense, which is a

capital fixed and realized, as it were, in his person. Those

talents, as they make a part of his fortune, so do they likewise

that of the society to which he belongs. The improved dexterity

of a workman may be considered in the same light as a machine or

instrument of trade which facilitates and abridges labour, and

which, though it costs a certain expense, repays that expense

with a profit.

The third and last of the three portions into which the general

stock of the society naturally divides itself, is the circulating

capital, of which the characteristic is, that it affords a

revenue only by circulating or changing masters. It is composed

likewise of four parts.