be worth one pound each, immediately becomes mere machinery, only a medium, and utterly insignificant in its effect upon the exchange of other commodities, we shall readily see that any attempt to solve economical problems is unscientific and hopeless, which disregards the fact of the intervention of money as a commodity. We shall then perceive the effect of this error-which can be easily followed-in many other branches of the subject than those to which I have referred; for it is closely interwoven with almost all prevalent doctrines relating to the material prosperity, and even in some cases, to the moral well-being of nations. LONDON: PRINTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. The following is a List of the Volumes already published. Fourth Edition. I. The FORMS of WATER in CLOUDS and RIVERS, ICE, and GLACIERS. By J. TYNDALL, LL.D., F.R.S. With 26 Illustrations. Price 5s. Second Edition. II. PHYSICS and POLITICS; or, Thoughts on the Application and Inheritance' to Political Society. of the Principles of Natural Selection Third Edition. III. FOODS. By Dr. EDWARD SMITH. Profusely Illustrated. Price 5s. Third Edition. IV. MIND AND BODY: the Theories of their Relation. By ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D., Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen. With 4 Illustrations. Price 4s. Third Edition. V. The STUDY of SOCIOLOGY. By HERBERT SPENCER. Price 5s. Third Edition. VI. The CONSERVATION of ENERGY. By Professor BALFOUR STEWART. With 14 Engravings. Price 5s. Second Edition. VII. ANIMAL LOCOMOTION; or, Walking, Swimming, and Flying. By J. B. PETTIGREW, M.D., F.R.S. With 119 Illustrations. Price 58. Second Edition. VIII. RESPONSIBILITY in MENTAL DISEASE. By Dr. HENRY MAUDSLEY. Price 5s. Second Edition. IX. The NEW CHEMISTRY. By Professor JOSIAH P. COOKE, of the Harvard University. With 31 Illustrations. Price 5s. Second Edition. X. The SCIENCE of LAW. By Professor SHELDON AMOS. Price 5s. Second Edition. XI. ANIMAL MECHANISM: a Treatise on Terrestrial and Aerial Professor OSCAR SCHMIDг (Strasburg University). Illustrated. Price 5s. By XIII. HISTORY of the CONFLICT between RELIGION and SCIENCE. BY JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, M.D., LL.D. Professor in the University of New York; Author of A Treatise on Human Physiology' &c. XIV. The CHEMICAL EFFECTS of LIGHT and PHOTOGRAPHY, in their Application to Art, Science, and Industry. By Dr. HERMANN VOGEL (Polytechnic Academy of Berlin). With 74 Illustrations. XV. OPTICS. By Professor LOMMEL (University of Erlangen). Profusely [In the press. Illustrated. HENRY S. KING & CO., 65 Cornhill and 12 Paternoster Row. possesses any of the active attributes of capital. Other property must be exchanged for money before anything can be done with it. But in ready money resides that potential energy which can be applied at a moment's notice either to purchase wheat, to build a pyramid, or to pay an army. If there be indeed any occult power known as capital, it must be generated by the action of money upon labour, as electricity is generated in a galvanic battery by the action of one chemical agent upon another; but it operates through the circulating coin, as the electric current through the wire, and its presence is no more to be looked for in the perishable produce of that action than an electric shock may be expected from a telegraphic message delivered by an errand boy. I am quite aware that I shall be said to be reviving the absurdities of what is called the mercantile system;" but whether that system is quite absurd may still be a question, when, notwithstanding what is theoretically taught as political economy, we find men practically acting upon it; all our currency representing a metallic basis, as the only indestructible one; and the National Banks still solicitous for reserves of bullion. When, on the contrary, the absurdity is once fully apprehended of any system, however supported by the authority of great names, under which we are required to believe that though an ingot of gold, or a bag of gold dust, worth 1,000l., is valuable merchandize and wealththe same merchandize, divided into pieces, certified to |