Proceedings. 231 



money in relation to credit money is almost insig- 

 nificant, yet it is all important. He was much struck 

 with the author's definition of credit as "the moneti- 

 sation of commodities." It was undoubtedly correct. 

 The leaders of economic thought, whose writings are still 

 authoritative in England, say the school of John Stuart 

 Mill, never gave the subject of money full consideration. 

 They never asked the question, how it was that silver money 

 and gold money, in their days, maintained such a steady 

 relation to each other, but seem to have rested in the belief 

 that supply and demand accounted for it, overlooking 

 the fact that the supply of the two metals had varied 

 very greatly, and being unconscious of the enormous 

 influence of specific national laws then in operation. This 

 only became apparent from the effects of the closing 

 of the French mint to the free coinage of silver. 

 In his chapters on international trade, John Stuart Mill 

 always speaks of " the precious metals " as the basis for 

 adjustment, and repeatedly reminds his readers that by 

 " the precious metals " he means silver and gold. In his 

 days silver and gold were one thing, unitedly they formed, 

 to apply Mr. Faraday's term, for all the world true 

 monetary " ions." 



