iSfovembef 3, 1803J 



SCIENCfi. 



H3 



THE SILVER QUESTION AND BIMETALISM. 



BY J. JAMES COUSINS, ALLEKTON PAEK, CHAPEL ALLERTON, 

 NEAR LEEDS, ENGLAND. 



I DO not tliink any aiJology is needed in introducing 

 the silver question as a scientific one, as no subject can 

 have a deeper interest for the American scientist at the 

 present time, than a consideration vphich can furnish one 

 particle of elucidation to this most interesting and com- 

 jjlicated question. 



In order to arrive at anything like a fair solution (and 

 that is the only one the world which is both our debtor and 

 creditor will listen to) we must divest it of all local and 

 national considerations, because the fact of nearly all the 

 silver in use being the product of America, a certain 

 amount of prejudice against American opinions and ac- 

 tions is engendered thereby. 



We find it stated (Wealth of Nations Vol. 1,743. M'Cul- • 

 loch's ed.)"Every prudent raiu, iu every period of society ,^ 

 after the establishment of the division of labor,must natural- 

 ly have endeavoured to manage his affairs in such a man- 

 ner as to have at all times by him, besides the peculiar 

 product of his own industry, a certain quantity of some 

 one commodity or another, such as he imagined few 

 people would be likely to refuse in exchange for the 

 produce of their industry." 



The question is, do we find in silver such a commodity? 

 Do our creditors all over the world exhibit a willingness 

 to accept payment for our debts in silver ? The answer 

 is obviously "no." 



In the event of our succeeding in enforcing such p)ay- 

 ment as a legal tender, it is certain that those who did so 

 would buy upon worse terms than those who paid in gold, 

 a metal which all the commercial world is craving for. 



Now is this craving merely sentimental, or is there good 

 ground for its existence ? 



One thing is certain that large and important countries 

 one after another are abandoning the double standard, 

 and silver is the one sacrificed, the reason for which is 

 not far to seek. 



In order to successively maintain a double standard, we 

 must be. able to fix an, unfailing ratio of value between the 

 two metals, let us see if that is possible between gold and 

 silver. 



We find that in the time of Julius Caesar the ratio of 

 value between the two metals was 9 to 1; in the 

 beginning of the i^resent century 15}^ to 1, and now 27^ 

 to 1, which seems to point to an impossibility of establish- 

 ing a ratio of value, it is obvious that to measure length 

 a standard must have fixed length, to measure value it 

 must have fixed value, attempts have been made by pow- 

 erful syndicates to give an enhanced value to copper, 

 iron, tin, cotton, corn, etc., all of which have ultimately 

 broken down. 



Suppose for a moment the government of the great 

 commercial countries of the world were to establish a 

 bimetallic standard and accept silver as one of them. In 

 order to be of any value to the silver interest, silver must 

 be a legal tender to any amount. 



From its depreciating tendency it would soon become 

 the one medium of exchange, and gold would assuredly 

 be hoarded, which would prove most inconvenient, for in 

 the event of your piresenting say a cheque of $5000 for 

 payment the banker,whoever he ma}' be, would insist ujjon 

 the customer taking silver because it paid him (the bank- 

 er) best to do so, and it is difficult to realise the position of 

 the customer under such circumstances, whilst the trouble 

 and difdculty of international exchange would be greatly 

 enhanced. 



I propose in a later article to introduce the subject of 

 an international clearing house, the relief of which to the 



metallic exchange can only te appreciated by those who 

 have a thorough knowledge of the advantages of the Lon- 

 don clearing house, where the bulk of the trade of the 

 United Kingdom is settled for, upwards of twenty millions 

 sterling per day, without the interchange of a single coin. 



These two subjects are so interwoven that one cannot 

 be fairly or properly considered without the other, but 

 this article has already run out its pro23er length for your 

 columns so that I dare not do more than hint at the subject 

 of an '-International Clearing House." 



I may just say in conclusion that in my opinion the 

 "letter" of Mr. Farley who was elected President of the 

 National Board of Trade at Washington last January, and 

 which may be read in the ofiicial report of the proceed- 

 ings of that meeting, whilst it contains many valuable 

 suggestions upon the silver question, would be found as 

 a whole to be thoroughly unworkable. 



FAITH IN THE INTEGRITY OP THE INTERSTELLAR 

 MEDIUM. 



BY DE VOLSON WOOD, H0B0E;aN, N. J. 



That space is not void, is conceded. That it is filled 

 with a medium capable of transmitting light and heat is 

 not questioned. This medium is believed^to be uaiform 

 in density and elasticity, but the exact natuie of its consti- 

 tution is unknown. Some believe it to be molecular 

 like gas, while others question if its structure has been 

 correctly defined. It makes no direct impression upon 

 the senses, and is known only through effects produced ; 

 and yet, whatever be its nature, it is known to transmit a 

 wave of light at the rate of 86,300 miles per second, there 

 being, as a mean value, within the spectrum, about 50,000 

 waves in an inch, or more than 60,000,000,000,000,0(JO in 

 the distance passed over in one second. When it is con^ 

 sidered that waves are transmitted through this medium 

 in all conceivable directions with the same velocity, some 

 faint conception may be had of its intense activity. ;The 

 complicity of the waves is transcendent, for each shade of 

 light has its own wave length, there being about 36,000 

 waves to the inch iu red light, and more than 64,000 in 

 violet, and outside the visible spectrum there are less in 

 number in one direction and more in the other. Every 

 self-luminuous body in the universe is imparting to this 

 medium waves of these varying lengths all travelling with 

 a sensibly constant velocity. When it is considered that 

 the countless number of stars and suns, scattered promis- 

 cuously throughout limitless sijace, are jn-oducing such 

 waves, radiating from each in all possible directions, it 

 would seem that, if they did not-actually destroy each other 

 they would so interfere as to produce "confusion worse 

 confounded" and the impressions upon the eye of an ob- 

 server would be valuless. But, on the contrary, the 

 scientist believes that this medium truly and faithfully 

 transmits to the remotest space every wave imparted to 

 it, preserving with the strictest integrity its individuality 

 — excejjt that j)lanets and other solid bodies may destroy 

 the waves they intercept. 



A star ten or more years ago started a wave which just 

 now, •■> e will suppose, arrives at the earth and writes its 

 own record on some sensitized plates, though the star may 

 be. 6,000,000,000,000 miles away. From these impressions 

 the physicist finds — perhaps — that the star is double, al- 

 though the most powerful telescope had failed to divide 

 it, that the two revolve about each other, and he deter- 

 mines there probable orbit, masses and velocities. Or, 

 perhapis he finds, as in the remarkable star of 1892, that 

 it changes from a star to a nebula in a few months. In 

 all this, no question is raised in regard to the integrity of 

 the record, nor whether iu its long journey any planet, 

 sun, comet, meteorite or nebula has interfered to modify 



