594 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Functions of Money.— In Money and the Mechanism of 

 Exchange, Professor Jevons relates an amusing experience of a 

 Parisian singer who made a professional tour of the world some years 

 ago. In crossing the Pacific Ocean the steamship was unexpectedly 



1.50 gold piece. T. Raid. 

 Georgia gold, 1830. 



$1 gold piece. North Carolina 

 gold ; 30 grains. C. Bechtler. 



compelled to call at the Society Islands, where she was detained for 

 a day or two. A few foreigners who were there invited the singer 

 to give a concert, agreeing that she should receive one third of the 

 gross proceeds. The lady accepted the invitation, and the concert 

 was well attended by the natives, who came from all parts of the 

 islands. When the receipts were coimted the lady found that her 

 share consisted of several pigs, fowls, goats, and a large quantity of 

 bananas, cocoanuts, and other tropical fruit. There was very little 

 money in circulation on the islands, and, as mademoiselle could not 

 consume any considerable portion of her share of the proceeds of the 

 concert, it became necessary to feed the live stock with the fruit. 



This story is told to illustrate a difiiculty which arose in the 

 earliest commercial transactions from the want of a common medium 

 of exchange, which difficulty led to the invention (about 700 b. c.) of 

 coined money as a " go-between " or substitute for direct barter. 



At the first glance it might appear a simple matter for the 

 butcher, the farmer, or the miller to make due exchange of com- 

 modities without the intervention of the go-between called money, 

 but a little reflection will soon reveal at least three great difficulties: 



gold piece. Carolina gold; 

 28 grains. Bechtler. 



$1 gold piece. Carolina gold ; 

 21 carats, 27 grains. A. Bechtler. 



First, that of finding two persons whose disposable goods mutually 

 suit each other's wants; second, the impracticability of subdividing 

 many articles — for example, a tailor can not cut up a coat into small 

 portions without destroying its value; third, the complexities in- 

 volved in equitably adjusting the relative values of various commod- 

 ities. These and other difficulties led to the selection, quite early in 



