#79. What Money is made of.# As already remarked almost any commodity may be used as money, and in different ages all kinds of things such as wine, eggs, olive oil, rice, skins, tobacco, shells, nails, have actually been employed in buying and selling. But metals are found to serve much the best for several reasons, and gold and silver are better for the purpose than any of the other metals. The advantages of having gold and silver money are evident. Such metals are #portable#, because they are so valuable that a small weight of metal equals in value a great weight of corn or timber or other goods. Then they are #indestructible#, that is, they do not rot like timber, nor go bad like eggs, nor sour like wine; thus they can be kept for any length of time without losing their value. Another convenience is, that there is no difference in quality in the metal itself; pure gold is always the same as pure gold, and though it may be mixed with more or less base metal, yet we can assay or analyse the mixture, and ascertain how much pure metal it contains. The metals are also #divisible#; they may be cut or coined into pieces, and yet the pieces taken together will be as valuable as before they were cut up. It is a further advantage of gold and silver that they are such beautiful, brilliant substances, and gold is also so heavy that it is difficult to make any counterfeit gold or silver; with a little experience and care, every one can tell whether he is getting real money or not--when the money is made of gold or silver. Finally, it is a great convenience that #these metals do not change in value rapidly#. A bad harvest makes corn twice as dear as before, and destructible things, like eggs, skins, &c., are always rising or falling in value. But gold and silver change slowly in value, because they last so long, and thus the new supply got in any one 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.