CHAP. XXIV.

GOLD AND SILVER.

213

company this complex inquiry that we have arrivedat the conclusion, that in the one hundred andten years in question, the quantity of gold andsilver which was converted into other objects thancoin amounted to two-thirds of that which wasleft in Europe , after the part which was conveyedto Asia is subtracted from the total produce of themines.

This estimate obtains some support from theviews taken of it by Necker in France , who in1789 reckons the annual amount of the gold andsilver used in that country for ornaments andutensils at near one million sterling. Humboldt in 1800 estimated the amount of the two metals soapplied at five million eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Spanish dollars, or one million twohundred and thirteen thousand five hundredpounds sterling. He supposes the consumptionof all Europe to be to that of France as four to one,and consequently is disposed to view the wholeannual demand of this quarter of the globe atfour million eight hundred and fifty-four thousandpounds sterling. In the cursory view we havetaken, and the subject admits of only cursoryviews, we should consider the consumption ofEngland, at the time when Humboldt formedhis estimate, at about one million five hundredthousand pounds; and that the rest of Europe may be calculated to consume about three timesas much, which would make the whole about four