Page:Origin of metallic currency and weight standards.djvu/63

 CHAPTER III.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE OX AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD.

And round about him lay on every side Great heapes of gold that never could be spent, Of which some were rude owre not purified Of Mulciber's devouring element. Some others were new driven and distent Into great Ingowes and to wedges square, Some in round plates with outen ornament, But most were stampt and in their metal bare The antique Shapes of Kings and Kesars straunge and rare.

, Faerie Queen, vii.

Let us now take a general survey of the results of our observations. First of all it is apparent that the doctrine of a primal convention with regard to the use of any one particular article as a medium of exchange is just as false as the old belief in an original convention at the first beginning of Language or Law. Every medium of exchange either has an actual marketable value, or represents something which either has or formerly had such a value, just as a five-pound note represents five sovereigns, and the piece of stamped walrus skin formerly employed by Russians in Alaska in paying the native trappers represented roubles or blankets.

To employ once more the language of geology, we have found evidence pointing to certain general laws of stratification. In Further Asia we have found a section which presents us with an almost complete series of strata, whilst in other places where we have been only able to observe two or three layers,