Oct 3, 1S89] 



NATURE 



553 



must have been taken in air. The diameter of the well was 6 

 inches. The rock was chiefly slate, and was bored by 

 *' jumping." The mean air temperature at Pittsburg is 52° F., 

 and the height above sea-level about 900 feet. Comparison of 

 tbe mean surface-temperature (taken as 52°) with the tempera- 

 ture 114° recorded at 4295 feet shows an increase of 62°, 

 which is at the rate of 1° F. for 69 "3 feet ; but comparisons of 

 the observations inter se would give a rate about twice as rapid 

 as this 5 hence no safe conclusion can be drawn. After the 

 hurry and worry of the gas business is over, Mr. Cummins hopes 

 to get the temperature pf some deep wells in a way that will be 

 satisfactory. 



We may mention, as a contribution to the literature of under- 

 ground temperature, the recent publication of results obtained 

 at the Old Observatory, Allahabad, with thermometers whose 

 bulbs were at the depths 3 feet, i foot, and \ inch respectively. 

 Harmonic reduction has been applied to deduce both the annual 

 and the diurnal variation, and from the former a fairly consistent 

 determination of " diflfusivity," or quotient of conductivity by 

 capacity, has been obtained. Its value, o"oo54C.G.S., is smaller 

 than any values that have been found elsewhere. The soil is a 

 sandy loam, which in dry weather becomes almost as hard as brick. 

 The observations extend over six years, and similar observations 

 are now being carried on at the New Observatory. The gentleman 

 who is responsible for the reductions and the description of the 

 observations is Mr. S. A. Hill, B.Sc, Meteorological Reporter to 

 the Government for the North-West Provinces. 



Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the Best Methods of ascertaining and measuring Variations 

 in the Value of the Monetary Standard. Prof Edgeivorth, 

 Secretary. 



This consists of a Supplementary Memorandum by the Secretary, 

 designed as a supplement to the Memorandum appended to the 

 First Report of the Committee. The object of that Memorandum 

 was to distinguish the different definitions which the proposed 

 problem might present ; and to construct the formula appropriate 

 to each phase of the investigation. The analysis of contents is 

 as follows : — (i) Prof. Newcomb's method ; (2) Prof. Foxwell's 

 method ; (3) Mr. Giffen's methods ; (4) Mr. Bourne's method ; 

 (5) Sir Rawson Rawson's method ; (6) Prof. Edgeworth's 

 method ; (7) Ricardo's method. 



The conclusion of the Memorandum runs as follows : — 



It may be useful to enumerate and summarily characterize the 

 principal definitions of the problem, or "standards,"^ which 

 have been discussed in this and the preceding Memorandum. An 

 alphabetical order will be adopted, the order of merit being not 

 only invidious, but also impossible in so far as different methods 

 are the best for different purposes. 



1. The capital standard takes for the measure of appreciation 

 or depreciation the change in the monetary value of a certain set 

 of articles. This set of articles consists of all purchasable 

 things in existence in the community, either at the earlier epoch 

 or at the later epoch, or some mean between those sets. This 

 standard is due to Prof. Nicholson. It is stated by him (in 

 terms a little less general than those here adopted) in his book 

 on " Money." It is discussed in the sixth and the tenth sections 

 of the former Memorandum. 



2. The consumption standard takes for the measure of ap- 

 preciation or depreciation the change in the monetary value on 

 •a certain set of articles. This set of articles consists of all the 

 commodities consumed yearly by the community either at the 

 earlier or the later epoch, or some mean between those two sets. 

 This standard has been recommended by many eminent writers, 

 in particular by Prof Marshall in the Contemporary Review of 

 1887. It is proposed by the Committee as the principal 

 standard. It is discussed in the second section of the former 

 Memorandum. 



3. 1\x& currency standard X.2!&e% as the measure of appreciation 

 or depreciation the change in the monetary value which changes 

 hands in a certain set of sales. These sales comprise all the 

 commodities bought and sold yearly at the earlier epoch or at 

 the later epoch, or some mean between those quantities. This 

 standard appears to be implicit in much that has been written 

 on the subject, but to have been most clearly stated by Prof. 

 Foxwell. It is discussed in the second section of this 

 Memorandum. 



The methods discussed in connection with the names of Mr. Giffen, Mr. 

 Bourne, and Sir Rawson Rawson are rather solutions than statements of the 

 problem. 



4. The income standard takes as the measure of the apprecia- 

 tion or depreciation the change in the monetary value of the 

 average consumption, or in the income per head, of the com- 

 munity. This standard is proposed in the fourth and fifth 

 sections of the former Memorandum. 



5. The indefinite standard takes as the measure of appreciation 

 or depreciation a simple unweighted average of the ratios formed 

 by dividing the price of each commodity at the later period by 

 the price of the same commodity at the earlier period. The 

 average employed may be the arithmetic mean used by Soetbeer 

 and many others, or the geometric mean used by Jevons, or the 

 median recommended by Prof. Edgeworth. This standard is 

 recommended by the practice of Jevons ^ and the theory of 

 Cournot.-^ It is discussed in the eighth and ninth sections of 

 the former Memorandum, and the fifth section of the present 

 one. 



6. The production standard is a designation which may be 

 applied to a method which is related to the currency standard 

 very nearly as the income standard is related to that based on 

 consumption. The production standard takes as the measure of 

 appreciation or depreciation the change in the monetary value 

 per head of the total amount of things produced in the com- 

 munity yearly. This standard is proposed by Prof. Simon 

 Newcomb in his "Political Economy." It is discussed in the 

 first section of this Memorandum. 



7. The wages (and interest ?) standard takes as the measure of 

 appreciation or depreciation the change in the pecuniary re- 

 muneration of a certain set of services— namely, all (or the 

 principal) which are rendered in the course of production, 

 throuijhout the community, during a year, either at the initial or 

 the final epoch ; or some expression intermediate between the 

 two specified. The theoretical basis and practical construction 

 of such a standard are indicated in Ricardo's "Principles of 

 Political Economy " (ch. xx. and elsewhere), in Prof Marshall's 

 evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (" Parliament- 

 ary Papers," 1888, C), and in the papers contributed by Mr. 

 Giffen to the second volume of the Bulletin of the International 

 Statistical Institute. The standard is discussed in the last 

 section of this Memorandum. 



Report {Second) of the Committee appointed for the purpose of 

 reporting on the present state of our knowledge of the Zoology and 

 Botany of the West India Islands, and taking steps to investigate 

 ascertained deficiencies in the Fauna and Flora. Mr. D. Morris, 

 Secretary. 



This Committee was first appointed in 1887. and re-appointed 

 in 1888. At. a meeting held on December 5, 1888, it was decided 

 to invite the co-operation of Dr. Giinther, F.R. S., a member of 

 the sub-committee appointed for a similar purpose by the Govern- 

 ment Grant Committee of the Royal Society, and Colonel 



' Most of Jevons's celebrated calculations (" Currency and Finance," ii., 

 iii., and iv.), and in particular his calculation of the probable error incident 

 to his result (/i/V/. p. 157), involve this conception. 



^ Cournot has considered our problem in each of the five volumes in which 

 he has treated of, or touched on, political economy {'' Dictionary of Political 

 Economy," Art. " Cournot"). It is sufficient here to refer to the first and the 

 last of those works, the '" Recherclies " of 1838 and the " Revue Sommaire" 

 of 1876 — the Alpha and almost the Omega of economic wisdom. From these 

 it is clear that variation in the " absolute " or " intrinsic " value of money, 

 in Coumot's view, corresponds to the "indefinite standard" as defined in 

 Section viii. of the predecessor to this Me norandum. Cournot illustratei 

 the variation due to a change on the part of money, by that change in the 

 position of the earth with respect to tfie stars, which is due to the motion of 

 the earth. In this analogy the stars are treated as "points " (" Recherches," 

 Art. 9). No account is takea of their mass. The context shows that 

 Cournot contemplates a simple average of distances between the earth and 

 each star ; not a "weighted average, or the distance between the earth and 

 the centre of gravity of the stars. In his later works he expressly declares 

 against, or at least thinks unbefitting highest place, the measure of what he 

 calls the "power of money "(" Revue Sommaire," Sect. 3), that is, in our 

 terms, the consumption standard ; the analogy of which is the distance of 

 the earth from the centre of gravity of the stars, or rather of certain select 

 stars — say those which are nearest to our human sphere. The currency 

 standard, of which the analogy is the distance of the earth from the centre 

 of gravity of all stars whatever, does not seem to have been entertained by 

 Cournot. 



Cournot. alluding to Jevons's treatment of the problem in " Money," not 

 unjustly takes him to task for not having distinguished " assez nettement " 

 variations in the " intrinsic value of money" (of which the measure is our 

 indefinite standard) from variations in the "power of money " (of which the 

 measure is our consumption standard) C' Revue Sommaire," p. 121). Referring 

 to Jevons's proposal to construct a tabular stnndard of value, Cournot ex- 

 presses his approbation in_ words which may fittingly conclude the present 

 study: — " Ce sont li des idees qu'il faut laisser miirir. Quand le moment 

 sera venu de construire eflfectivement I'etalon vtonitaire. les geometres 

 pourront y trouver une application interessante de leur theorie de 

 inoyennes, telles qu'ils I'ont deja construite pour les besoins de I'astronomie 

 et de la physique." 



