286 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the New World." In 1850 sixteen millions 

 sterling of specie annually did less for the 

 wants of the world than ten millions had 

 done in 1810, and much less than two mill- 

 ions had done nearly three centuries pre- 

 viously, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

 " Whenever the supply of money becomes 

 stationary in the civilized world, or in a 

 progressive community, prices begin to fall, 

 owing to the steady increase of population 

 and monetary requirements. Thus, . . . 

 during the silver age, although the annual 

 production of the precious metals increased 

 continuously throughout three hundred 

 years well-nigh doubling in each succes- 

 sive century the monetary wants of the 

 world increased quite as fast, and ere long 

 began to outstrip the growth of the mone- 

 tary supply." A careful analysis of the 

 statistics of coinage and other uses, and of 

 the supply of the precious metals, based 

 upon the reports of the Director of the 

 United States Mint, shows that " the cur- 

 rent requirements for coinage of themselves 

 exceed the total annual supply of the pre- 

 cious metals by four millions sterling, while 

 the consumption in the arts amounts to nine- 

 teen millions indicating a reduction, or at 

 least an inadequate supply, of metallic mon- 

 ey to the extent of twenty - three millions 

 annually." The disastrous effects of a mon- 

 etary dearth are extensive. It affects not 

 only current trade, but real property, or 

 fixed wealth of all kinds. The value of 

 money is rising, and consequently the sale 

 value of all other commodities is falling. 

 Even the moneyed class lose also, owing to 

 the low rate of interest and the lack of re- 

 munerative kinds of investment ; but agri- 

 culture is most affected by a change in the 

 value of the circulating medium, because 

 such a change comes upon it with di- 

 rect and unbroken force. Thus, the mis- 

 chief works round the whole community, 

 or indeed the civilized world. No human 

 power can prevent the embarrassment aris- 

 ing from an inadequate production of the 

 precious metals. "But, fortunately, the 

 source of our present difficulties is no longer 

 the mystery that it was, even to statesmen 

 in former times. The fact that nowadays 

 it can be traced to its fundamental causes 

 constitutes the best hope amid our present 

 difficulties." 



Is Tea-drinking salntary ? The Dean 

 of Bangor has charged tea-drinking with 

 destroying the calmness of the nerves, mak- 

 ing people uneasy and irritable, and acting 

 as a dangerous revolutionary force. Some 

 medical men, including American doctors 



and Dr. Richardson, 



agree with him ; 



but 



Dr. Gordon Stables has pronounced tea " the 

 drink of pleasure and health," and has ex- 

 pressed the opinion that it ought to be the 

 national drink of England. The general 

 current of public opinion and practice ap- 

 pears to be favorable to the latter view. 

 In the British army, says the " Pall Mall 

 Gazette," the use of tea is slowly but surely 

 supplanting the use of grog. The soldiers 

 who captured Tel-el-Kebir dr ank nothing but 

 tea. It was served out to them three times 

 a day, and they found it most pleasant and 

 invigorating on the march. Its use among 

 athletes and others who perform physical 

 feats is becoming more general. The use 

 of alcohol and tobacco is universally con- 

 demned in the various hand-books on train- 

 ing, but the use of tea is always recom- 

 mended. To the charge that tea-drinking 

 stimulates revolutionary tendencies may be 

 answered that the greatest tea-drinking na- 

 tion in Asia, the Chinese, is the most con- 

 servative, and that the Russians, the great- 

 est tea-drinkers in Europe, are the most 

 stolid of Western peoples. Of great men, 

 Dr. Johnson described himself as " a hard- 

 ened and shameless tea-drinker." Kant 

 used to breakfast on a cup of tea and a 

 pipe of tobacco, and to work on them for 

 eight hours. De Quincey usually drank tea 

 from eight o'clock at night till four o'clock 

 in the morning. Buckle was a most fas- 

 tidious tea-drinker. William Howitt regu- 

 larly took tea and coffee, and found the 

 greatest refreshment in both ; and Mr. Glad- 

 stone is one of the greatest tea-drinkers of 

 the century. 



Variation in Earthquake-Vibrations. 



Professor Milne, of Tokio, Japan, making 

 a seismic survey of the ground near bis 

 house, placed similarly constructed and test- 

 ed seismographs at different places, but in 

 similar positions. The result of observing 

 many earthquakes was that all the instru- 

 ments, the positions of which would be in- 

 cluded within a triangle, the sides of which 



