TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 201 



paper-mill, and the cotton abstracted in such a state as to form a most valuable 

 material for paper. By a process which the speaker described at length, the cotton- 

 libre could be completely separated from the shell. Compared with esparto grass, 

 the cotton-fibre preseuted many advantages, chief amongst which was the unfail- 

 ing supply. He also referred to the value and use of the oil and cattle-cake which 

 the seed would yield. 



On the Physical Gcor/nq^hy of the United States of America as affecting Agri- 

 culture, with suggestions fur the Increase of the Production of Cotton. By 

 lloBERT T. Saunders. 



On the Effect which a Mint Charge has upon the vcdue of Coins, to which is 

 added a Proposition for securing at once some of the advantages of Inter- 

 national Coinage. Bg G. Johicstgne Stonet, M.A., F.ll.S. 



The value of a gold coin in no degree depends on the proportion of baser metals 

 which may be mixed with its gold ; aud in this communication when gold is spoken 

 of it is the fine gold which is to be imderstood, aud not those alloys, varying from 

 one country to another, which are called standard gold. 



Omitting fractions, the British sovereign contains when new 732 centigrams of 

 fine gold ; whence it follows that each centigram of gold, each cent as it may be 

 called for brevity, represents about one-third of a penny, the exact equivalent 

 being that every 3'05 centigi'ams of the fine gold in a new sovereign are worth one 

 penny. 



The 2o-franc piece contains 725 centigi-ams of gold, and it has been suggested 

 that our sovereign should be identified with this piece by issuing coins containing 

 only 725 cents of gold ; and it is alleged that the value of the new coins would be 

 maintained as high as the sovereign by imposing a mint charge of a little over two 

 pence as a substitute for the 7 cents of gold which are to be withheld. Tlie advo- 

 cates of the proposal urge in support of their view that, whenever the wants of the 

 country require that more gold shall be coined, it will be necessary to bring to the 

 Miut exactly the same quantity of bar gold as now, in order to procure ten thou- 

 sand sovereigns. 



On the other hand, other financiers are of opinion that the coinage could not be 

 thus treated without depressing its value ; although, so far as the author of this 

 communication is aware, they have not pointed out wherein lies the fallacy of the 

 foregoing argiiment. An attempt is now made to supply this deficiency. 



The fallacy seems to consist in regarding the upper limit of tlie value of a coin as 

 the same thing as the value of the coin. A coin is not a commodity of perfectly 

 fixed value, but one whicli fluctuates between certain limits. The upper limit in 

 London* is sufficiently defined by the weight of bar gold which will procure a 

 sovereign at the Bankf ; and if there were no light gold in circulation, the lower 

 limit in Loudon would at present be defined by the weight of bar gold remaiuino- 

 in the sovereign when it just passes out of circulation through defect of weight. 

 It is convenient, though not quite exact in principle, to estimate the interval be- 

 tween these two limits in pence : and estimating it thus, we may say that if coins 

 did not wear, but retained through their whole existence the full weight they have 

 when issued from the Miut, they would have more purchasing power than at pre- 

 sent; and again, if they did not wear aud had all of them the weight of coins just 

 before they go out of lawful circulatiou, they would (if there were no liglit coin in 

 circulation) have less purchasing-power than at present ; and that three-halfpence 

 is about the difference between the purchasing-powers of two such hypothetical 

 sovereigns. The purchasing-power of real sovereigns (where no light coin is al- 



* In London, because at otiier stations the problem becomes complicated by fresh con- 

 siderations — such as the cost of the carriage of the coin from London, the cost of insuring 

 it during its transit, and the loss of interest for the time the transfer takes. 



t At the Bank, where coin can be procured for bar gold over the counter, rather than 

 at the Mint, where there would be a delay of about twelve days, the interest dm-ing which 

 woidd have to be taken into account. 



