ItmayevenhavefallensofarshortoftimedemandassomewhattoraisethepriceofthosemetalsintheEuropeanmarket。
Thequantityofbrassandironannuallybroughtfromtheminetothemarketisoutofallproportiongreaterthanthatofgoldandsilver。Wedonot，however，uponthisaccount，imaginethatthosecoarsemetalsarelikelytomultiplybeyondthedemand，ortobecomegraduallycheaperandcheaper。Whyshouldweimaginethatthepreciousmetalsarelikelytodoso？Thecoarsemetals，indeed，thoughharder，areputtomuchharderuses，and，astheyareoflessvalue，lesscareisemployedintheirpreservation。Thepreciousmetals，however，arenotnecessarilyimmortalanymorethanthey，butareliable，too，tobelost，wasted，andconsumedinagreatvarietyofways。
Thepriceofallmetals，thoughliabletoslowandgradualvariations，varieslessfromyeartoyearthanthatofalmostanyotherpartoftherudeproduceofland;andthepriceofthepreciousmetalsisevenlessliabletosuddenvariationsthanthatofthecoarseones。Thedurablenessofmetalsisthefoundationofthisextraordinarysteadinessofprice。Thecornwhichwasbroughttomarketlastyearwillbealloralmostallconsumedlongbeforetheendofthisyear。Butsomepartoftheironwhichwasbroughtfromtheminetwoorthreehundredyearsagomaybestillinuse，andperhapssomepartofthegoldwhichwasbroughtfromittwoorthreethousandyearsago。Thedifferentmassesofcornwhichindifferentyearsmustsupplytheconsumptionoftheworldwillalwaysbenearlyinproportiontotherespectiveproduceofthosedifferentyears。Buttheproportionbetweenthedifferentmassesofironwhichmaybeinuseintwodifferentyearswillbeverylittleaffectedbyanyaccidentaldifferenceintheproduceoftheironminesofthosetwoyears;andtheproportionbetweenthemassesofgoldwillbestilllessaffectedbyanysuchdifferenceintheproduceofthegoldmines。Thoughtheproduceofthegreaterpartofmetallicmines，therefore，varies，perhaps，stillmorefromyeartoyearthanthatofthegreaterpartofcornfields，thosevariationshavenotthesameeffectuponthepriceoftheonespeciesofcommoditiesasuponthatoftheother。
VARIATIONSINTHEPROPORTIONBETWEENTHERESPECTIVEVALUES
OFGOLDANDSILVER