CHAP. XXVlli. TO OTHER PRECIOUS METALS. 349 



purposes may have increased the stock of the 

 latter, or have increased it at all, is a matter of 

 great doubt. It must depend on the quantity of 

 the latter which is actually in existence, and on 

 the degree of loss to which that quantity is liable. 

 Many persons have indulged in conjectures on 

 both those topics. Some have estimated the 

 value of the gold and silver in the form of 

 utensils and ornaments to be three, and others 

 four, times as much as that of the coin. They 

 appear, however, to have taken only a partial and 

 local view of the subject, and to have come to 

 their conclusions from observations made in Eng- 

 land, where, undoubtedly, the whole weight of 

 gold and silver in other shapes is far greater than 

 that in coin. 



An analysis of the classes of society in this 

 country may do something to assist conjecture. 

 There probably are in England ten thousand 

 families, consisting of about one hundred and 

 fifty thousand individuals, including children and 

 domestics, who are in possession of articles of 

 gold and silver whose value by weight, when di- 

 vested of the additions made by the tax, by the 

 workmanship, and by the profits of the manu- 

 facturer and the retailer, may together amount 

 to five hundred pounds for each family; or may 

 be worth, as mere bullion, five million pounds 

 sterling, although it may have cost to the pos- 

 sessors much more than double that sum. We ' 



