The question is not whether the worth exists, but on what is the worth based.

How far is the treasure incorruptible; and how far will our increasing knowledge act as moth and rust to it?
There are some things whose value is completely established by the mere fact that men do value them.

They appeal to single tastes, they defy further analysis, and they thus form, as it were, the _bases_ of all pleasures and happiness.

But these are few in number; they are hardly ever met with in a perfectly pure state; and their effect, when they are so met, is either momentary, or far from vivid.

As a rule they are found in combinations of great complexity, fused into an infinity of new substances by the action of beliefs and associations; and these two agents are often of more importance in the result than are the things they act upon.