204 THE EVOLUTION OF 



we describe wealth in pounds, francs, marks, dollars, 

 rupees, and so on, we are expressing it in the only 

 common denominator known to us the name of the 

 measure which is the medium of exchange we use. That 

 is why to say that a man is worth, i.e. his possessions 

 could be exchanged for, 10,000 francs or rupees or marks, 

 conveys no meaning to an untravelled or not specially 

 educated Englishman until the terms are translated into 

 pounds, the name of his standard of currency. The 

 same argument applies to the 'worth ' of anything stated 

 in terms of any currency, metallic or other. 



The first step towards metal money is, of course, the 

 use of a lump of metal as currency, i. e. of a manufactured 

 article produced from the ore by smelting, but of un- 

 certain quantity or weight and of most uncertain quality, 

 or fineness resulting from the mode of smelting. In this 

 condition of affairs, which it is not easy for the modern 

 Englishman to realize, every piece of metal tendered in 

 payment or exchange requires weighment and examina- 

 tion for fineness or assay. This was, however, a com- 

 mon condition all the world over for a very long time, is 

 so still in many places, and was so in Burma until quite 

 recently. It was what our forefathers meant by the old 

 expression of ' showing your money.' It obtained in 

 Upper Burma in my own time. In fact it was the 

 interest aroused by observing how people managed to 

 flourish financially and trade in such circumstances that 

 led me on to take up the subject of currency as a study. 

 I found that for their daily wants people living under 

 these conditions acquire dexterity in weighing by the 

 hand and in recognizing the quality of metal by appear- 

 ance and feel. I did so to a certain extent myself in the 

 case of silver, the metal I studied. Here again mankind 

 is seen acting in obedience to a natural law that of 



