1. It is better to take, as a Measure of Value, some foreign
commodity [like gold], the cost of producing which is nearly
invariable, than to estimate either by the amount of labour or by
the amount of corn or of other goods generally that will be
purchased by the article measured (LXXVII, LXXVIII).
2. There is nothing in the said labour which fits it to be a better
measure of value than anything else; but, on the contrary, to use it
as a measure is to involve ourselves in paradoxes (LXXXIII, LXXXV to
LXXXVIII).
3. There cannot be an absolute or universal measure of value, for
there is no uniformity in the conditions under which commodities are
produced, the time taken and the proportion and durability of the
capital employed being, for example, very different (LXXXIV).