54 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



THE PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER FOR 385 YEARS. 



Dr. Adolph Soetbeer publishes a report upon the precious metals, taking the 

 year 1493 as the starting date in his computations, claiming that the modern his- 

 tory of gold and silver begins with the return of Columbus from his first voyage 

 to the New World. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, before the treas- 

 ures of America were unlocked, the supply of the precious metals in civilized 

 countries had fallen far below the requirements of trade. Mr. Jacobs' conjecture 

 in regard to the specie which was available for the exchanges of Europe in 1492, 

 rates the total sum at no more than $165,000,000. Since then the mines of the 

 world have furnished over fourteen and a half billions in silver and gold. We 

 present below a valuation of the weights tabulated by Dr. Soetbeer, for three 

 hundred and eighty-two years, from 1493 to 1875, supplemented by an estimate 

 of the production for the three years 1875 to 1878, uncovered by his table : 



Production of precious metals 

 from 1493 to 1S78. 



Gold $6,61^193,087 



Silver 7,976,429,920 



Total $14,588,623,007 



We desire at present to direct attention to the steady increase in the supply 

 of the precious metals from century to century, and especially to the enormous 

 figures of the gold production during the last twenty-eight years. That the position 

 may be seen at a glance, we have prepared tables of the annual average supply 

 for each of the precious metals by decades or double-decades from 1493 to the 

 end of last year. The production of each century is summarized and averaged 

 by itself. Our readers will do well to preserve the tables for reference. Aver- 

 age annual production : 



SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



Years. Gold. Pilver. 



1493101520 . .$3,856,578 $ 2,015,125 



1521 to 1544 4,758,536 3,867,325 



1545 to 1560 5. 655^746 i3>359,85o 



1561 to 1580 .... 4,545,864 12,841,062 



1581 to 1600 4,904,748 17,960,337 



The total production in the one hundred and eight years, from 1493 to 1600, 

 amounted to $501,693,248 gold, an average of $4,645,307 per annum; and 

 $976,024,900 in silver, an average of $9,065,045. 



