ABSTRACT
The history of interest, which involves that of profit, is connected with fundamental changes in human society, and in the ideas and feelings on which it rests. It raises, too, economic and social problems of no little importance for the future of the civilized world. The mediaeval reprobation of interest under the name of usury has often been ascribed to the Christian Church, but its origin may be traced to a much earlier stage of society. Several questions arise with respect to interest and profit in the towns. How did so high a rate of interest as ten percent come to subsist in mediaeval trade? Why did it continue at the same rate, neither fluctuating from time to time, nor declining on the whole, as it has done in modern times? The future of interest and profit has been considered with reference to economic conditions alone.
