ABSTRACT
The evolution of money is anthropogeographical, influenced alike by man and by his environment; and the distribution of money is by human agency; so classification by region and race gives the fullest significance to the material. Even the contrasted extremes of Nutzgeld and Zeichengeld, which correspond to the 'full-bodied' and 'token' money, cannot always be distinguished and still leave the mass of material unclassified. A hypothetical picture of the perfect peace in which Mankind lived before the evolution of personal property destroyed its harmony is too far back to concern the modern economist, though glimpses may be seen among such moneyless cultures as those of the Andaman Islanders, the Nicobarese and the Eskimo. In one island may still be seen a money-less barter, with present-giving and ceremonial exchanges developing into local forms of currency, which may be estimated in tobacco and coins.
