ON VABIAXIONS IN THE VALUE OP THE MONETARY STANDARD. 285 



Similar results are presented by the table of price fluctuations in the ' Massa- 

 chusetts Labour Report,' 1885, p. 459. Out of seventy-eight commodities nine only 

 have the minimum further below the average than the maximum is above it. 

 And those exceptions are slight in respect of extent, whUe the exemplifications 

 are often marked. 



EXAMINATIOX OF VARIATION OF PBICES, 1782-1865. 



(See Jevons, Cm-rencij and Finance, Table VIII. p. 144.) 



Metals . . . . 



Iron 



Timber . . . . 



Oils 



Dye materials 



Fibres, cotton, 

 wool, &c. . . 



Cotton . . . . 



Corn . . 

 Wheat . 

 Fodder . 



1782 

 1820 

 1782. 

 1821- 

 1782. 

 1821. 

 1782. 

 1821. 

 1782- 

 1821- 

 1782- 

 1821. 

 1782- 

 1821. 

 1782. 

 1821. 

 1821. 

 1782 

 1821. 

 1821. 

 1782- 

 182L 

 1782- 

 1821 

 1798* 

 182L 



1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1860 

 1865 

 1820 

 1860 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 

 1820 

 1865 



Middle point 



between max. 



and min. 



86 



55 



81 



491 

 129" 



97 

 103 



74i 

 293j 



99i 

 1231 



98 

 1101 



63 

 151 



861 



95 

 1301 



42 



744 

 1751 

 134 

 156 

 1141 

 213 

 203 



Xo. of returns 

 above middle 



15 

 11 



8 

 14 

 12 

 13 

 16 

 10 



4 



9 

 14 

 10 

 10 



7 



4 



17 

 12 



2 



9 



4 



9 

 18 

 12 

 18 



12 (out of 23) 

 20 



Median 



84 



45 



65 



48 



113 



87 



99 



55 



116 



90 



105 



90 



98 



36 



130 



78 



88 



87 



33 



36 



134 



128 



131 



113 



214 



199 



Eetum previous to 1798 wanting. 



The next statistics present not time fluctuations, but place fluctuations. In 

 the * Illinois Statistics of Labour Report,' vol. iii. p. 340, are given the prices of thii-tv- 

 eight articles in 34 diiferent * towns. Examining the series of prices for each article 

 we find that there is fulfilled in almost every case the law that the maximum is 

 further from the average than the minimum is. Most of the exceptions are very 

 slight, and disappear if we take in the pemdtimate the observations penemaximum 

 and penp minimum. The only real exceptions are mackerel, fresh fish cheese 

 butter, and crackers, five articles out of thirty-eight. The odds against such a 

 phenomenon occurring by accident are hmidreds of thousands to one. 



Lastly, let us take piice returns for the same time and locality, but for 

 difierent articles. 



This table is extracted from JevoW table of Proportional Variation of Prices, 

 ' Currency and Finance,' p. 144. The ' median ' is the point which has as many 

 observations above as below it. Where, as in the majority of the rows above 

 the number of enti-ies is even twelve, namely 12, the point half- way between the 

 sixth and seventh has been taken as the median. The sixth and seventh beino- in 

 almost every case close together, there is very little of arbitraiiness in this pro- 

 cedm-e. The fact that the maximum is in every case farther from the median than 



' For some few of the towns more than one price is quoted. 



