288 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
BI-METALLISM. 
SYLLABUS OF LECTURE BY MR. C. F. BURNARD. 
(Read 5th December, 1889.) 
Definition of "Money." Functions of Money. Currency of the 
principal trading nations of Europe. How England came to have 
a gold currency. Superiority of gold over silver as a standard of 
value. " Supply of Money." Recent adoption of gold currency 
as the standard of value by Germany, France, and other countries. 
Definition of Ei-metallism. Conditions necessary to adoption 
thereof. Arguments for Bi-metallism examined. Enquiry as to 
prices. Altered conditions of trading. Causes of the lowering 
of the value of silver. Enquiry as to the influence, if any, on 
the prices of commodities by the fall in the gold price of silver. 
Influence of this fall on our trade with silver-using countries. 
Some considerations on paper money, and by what means it might 
be made more useful in substitution of metallic money. Opinion 
of the philosopher Locke. Conclusion. 
THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 
SYLLABUS OF LECTURE BY MR. F. H. BALK WILL. 
(Read 12th December, 1889.) 
Derivation of birds from reptiles. Archeopteryx. Description 
of wing and tail of birds. Varieties of flight. Flight by burring. 
Flight by flitting or swinging. Flight by flapping or rowing. 
Flight by skating. Flight by sailing or soaring. Physics of 
flight. Monsieur Murey's instantaneous photographs of birds in 
flight. Conclusion. 
