°HAP. XVIII.

CONSUMPTION.

63

therefore, to calculate that one part in three hun-dred and sixty was annually consumed, or onetenth part in thirty-six years. On these principlesthe diminution on the fifty millions in existencein 1546 would reduce them in fifty-four years toforty.two millions seven hundred and fifty thousandpounds. The same gradual loss would be suf-fered on the one hundred and twenty-one mil-lions, but that can only be taken as the operation°f the mean term of years, or of twenty-sevenyears. This diminution would thus amount toabout nine millions, and the result to which wearrive would be that at the end of the year 1599the stock of gold and silver actually in existenceamounted to about one hundred and fifty-fivemillions ; or as it may be stated in round numbers,at nearly five times as much aswas in the possession°f mankind in 1492, when America first becameknown to the Europeans . It would be of great^vantage to the purpose of this inquiry to ascer-tain in the period under consideration, what pro-portion of the gold and silver obtained was applied*0 conversion into coin, and what to the fabrica-tion of articles of utility, magnificence, or luxury.Instead, however, of attempting to hazard conjec-tures on so obscure a subject, we must be content''ith such general observations as the aspect of theSe veral countries of Europe present on looking at^eir modes of thinking, and their manners andhabits. The Spaniards, into whose possession the