Chap。II
OfArtificialorMaterialMoneyFromtheinfancyoftheworld，atleastasfarbackasouraccountsofthetransactionsofmankindreach，wefindtheyhadadoptedthepreciousmetals，thatissilverandgold，asthecommonmeasureofvalue，andastheadequateequivalentforeverythingalienable。
Themetalsareadmirablyadaptedforthispurpose；theyareperfectlyhomogeneous:Whenpure，theirmasses，orbulks，areexactlyinproportiontotheirweights:Nophysicaldifferencecanbefoundbetweentwopoundsofgold，orsilver，letthembetheproductionoftheninesofEurope，Asia，Africa，orAmerica:
theyareperfectlymalleable，fusible，andsufferthemostexactdivisionwhichhumanartiscapabletogivethem:Theyarecapableofbeingmixedwithoneanother，aswellaswithmetalsofabaser，thatis，ofalesshomogeneousnature，suchascopper。Bythismixturetheyspreadthemselvesuniformlyitbethroughthewholeofthecompoundmass，sothateveryatomofcomesproportionallypossessedofashareofthisnoblemixture；
bywhichmeansthesubdivisionofthepreciousmetalsisrenderedveryextensive。