620 Dr. J. H, Gladstone on the Metals of Antiquity. [Feb. 11, 



the wonderfiil work in gold in one of tlie Greek rooms in tlie British 

 Museum. 



Commerce implies a large extension of a medium of exchange. 

 The whole question of money is far too wide a subject for us to deal 

 with now ; suffice it to say that Herodotus attributes to the Lydians 

 the introduction of the use of coins. The earliest were of electrum, 

 issued in the form of oval bullets, officially stamped on one side. 

 Tliey date back, perhaps, to B.C. 700 ; but, according to other autho- 

 rities, silver money was coined at i3i]gina more than a century before 

 that time. 



The great period which hr,s been under our consideration ter- 

 minated in each country with an age of disorder and deterioration. 

 The rise of the Roman Empire introduced a new era : it was in one 

 sense an iron age — ferrum being synonymous with the sword. We 

 now live in another kind of iron age, but in better and brighter times 

 than those of Hesiod, and we may hope that our great engineering 

 works, our iron roads and iron steam-ships may lead not to the 

 enslaving but to the brotherhood of nations. 



[J. H. G.] 



