A Treatise on Money and Essays on Monetary Problems (1895)
by Joseph Shield Nicholson (9780217430883)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III MATERIAL MONEY AND REQUISITES OF GOOD COINAGE 1. Early forms of money.?It is necessary, however, before attempting to explain the causes of these movements in general prices, to return to the simple elements of the subject, and to consider what substances are best adapted to serve for money, or to fulfil these various money functions. We are so much accustomed to regard gold and silver as money par excellence, that we are apt to forget the number and variety of materials which have been used at different times. If space permitted, a historical survey would show that what are termed the precious metals may be regarded as " survivals of the fittest" in the struggle for existence of a great variety of substances, " It is entirely," as Professor Jevons says, " a question of degree what commodities will, in any given society, form the most convenient currency." I give a few examples, chiefly derived from this writer's work on Money. In the hunting stage of societies skins have very commonly been used, and this is the explanation of the verse in Job (ii. 4): " Skin forskin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." The transition from skins to leather was natural, and leather money is said to have been used in many ancient nations. Even in quite recent times in the trade of the Hudson's Bay Company with the North American Indians, furs long formed the medium of exchange. In the pastoral stage, when the principal wealth of the society consisted of herds, we find cattle used as a measure of value, and it is said that pecunia, the Latin term for money, is derived from pecus, cattle. In the agricultural state corn came into use as money, and is said still to form the medium of exchange in some remote parts of Europe, whilst at different times and places ...

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