The cessation of these restrictions upon production, in consequence of the restoration of peace throughout the world and the great progress afterwards made in almost all branches of industry, explain why, from 1818 to 1848, the precious metals have apparently stood higher than during the period immediately preceding.(855)(856) Section CXXXVIII. Revolution In Prices.—Influence Of The Non-Monetary Use Of Gold And Silver. To understand why so great an increase in the production of the precious metals produced so small a decline of their value in exchange, we must turn our attention to the other and further uses of gold and silver. The amount devoted to these uses can never be very accurately determined, since governmental stamping of every new gold or silver article would afford no evidence as to the number of such articles manufactured out of old articles etc.(857) Certain it is, however, that the aggregate amount of gold and silver thus employed, increases with the increase of luxury and wealth among modern nations, and that a quantity of the precious metals thus used, especially when used for purposes of gilding for instance, is irrestorably lost.(858) In addition to this, there is the wear and tear of coin in circulation, which is naturally greater in the case of large pieces than of small, and, therefore, in the case of silver than of gold. There is, further, the damage caused by the loss of coin in conflagrations and shipwrecks, and that occasioned by buried and forgotten treasure.(859)