CHAP. xxvi. DECLINING QUANTITY. 323 



had been brought to Europe from those countries 

 than had been conveyed to them. It has before, 

 in the twenty-fifth chapter of this inquiry, been 

 attempted to be shown that the durability of gold 

 in coin is in the proportion of four to one greater 

 than that of silver. It has, too, been shown that 

 the recently increased produce of the mines of 

 Russia has consisted chiefly of gold. These cir- 

 cumstances, on which our limits do not admit of 

 enlargement, might be shown to be sufficient to 

 account for the equable rate of value which has 

 been preserved between the two metals during a 

 long period. 



