year is very little
compared with the whole supply or stock of the metal. Nevertheless,
#gold and silver, like all other commodities, are always changing in
value more or less quickly#.

#80. Metallic Money.# Almost all the common metals--copper, iron, tin,
lead, &c.--have been used to make money at one time or other, besides
various mixtures, such as brass, pewter, and bronze. But copper, silver,
and gold have been found far more suitable than any of the other metals.
Copper, indeed, being comparatively low in value, is wanting in
portability. It was formerly the only money of Sweden, and I have seen a
piece of old Swedish money consisting of a plate of copper about two
feet long and one foot broad. A merchant making payments in such money
had to carry his money about in a wheel-barrow. Now we use copper only
for coins of small value, and to make the copper harder, it is melted up
with tin and converted into bronze.

In the Saxon times English money was made of silver only, but this was
inconvenient both for very large and for very small payments. The best
way is to use gold, silver, and bronze money according as each is
convenient. #In the English system of money, gold is the standard money
and the legal tender#, because no one can be obliged to receive a large
sum of money in any other metal. If a person owes a hundred pounds, he
cannot get rid of the debt without tendering or offering a hundred
pieces of coined gold to his creditor. Silver coin is a legal tender
only to the amount of forty shillings--that is, no creditor can be
obliged to receive more than forty shillings in a single payment.
Similarly, bronze coin is a legal tender only up to the amount of one
shilling in all.

#81. What is a Pound Sterling?# In England people are continually paying
and receiving money in pounds, but few could say exactly what a pound
sterling means. No doubt it is represented by a coin called a sovereign,
but what is a sovereign? Strictly speaking, #a sovereign is a piece of
gold coined, in accordance with an Act of Parliament, at a British mint,
still bearing the proper stamp of that mint, and weighing not less than
122-1/2 grains#. On the average the sovereigns issued from the mint
ought to weigh 123.274 grains, but it is impossible to make each coin of
that exact weight, and if this were done, the coins would soon be
lessened in weight by wear. A sovereign is legal tender for a pound as
long as it weighs 122-1/2 grains or m