value in a too large bulk to be employed in the current exchanges of Commerce. Copper, silver, and gold are the only ones which have been brought into constant use. And even copper, except among certain Peoples, who have not yet been able to obtain a sufficient quantity of gold and silver from mines or Commerce, has only served in the exchanges of the smallest values.
S45
The use of gold & silver as money has augmented their value as materials.[1]
It is impossible but that the eagerness with which everyone has sought to exchange his superfluous products[2] for gold and silver rather than for any other produce should have greatly augmented the value of these two metals in Commerce. They have thereby become only the more suitable for their employment as pledge and as common measure.
S46
Variations in the value of gold & of silver, compared with the other articles of Commerce & with one another.
This value is susceptible of change, and in fact does change continually; so that the same quantity of metal which corresponded to a certain quantity of such or such a commodity ceases to correspond to it, and more or less money is needed to represent the same commodity. When more is needed the commodity is said to be dearer, and
