CHAP. XII.

CONSUMPTION OF METALS.

311

CHAPTER XII.

♦

On the effect of the decrease of the precious metals on theprices of commodities in the period extending from the dis-solution of the Western Roman Empire to the discovery ofAmerica . '

The scattered fragments of information whichmay be collected by diligent research respectingthe attempts to obtain the precious metals fromthe bowels of the earth are chiefly of import-ance to the purpose of this inquiry, becausethey lead to the inference that no great increaseor diminution, in the actual quantity of thosemetals, took place in the middle ages.

At the period when the mines in Hungary and Germany began to be worked, or as regardsthe former, recommenced their workings, it hasbeen hypothetically assumed that the wholequantity of coined money amounted to not morethan about thirty-three or thirty-four millionssterling.

If we suppose the same rate of consumptionto have proceeded as at the former periods, weshall find that to replace that loss by wear whichwould have required in the time of Augustus at least an annual supply of one million sterling,