ABSTRACT
From the evolutionary standpoint, money is the father of private property. Elephant tusks and huge stones of a certain quality, and later gold, silver, copper, and metals of all kinds, serve as money and as a medium for accumulation. The function of money as a general medium of exchange originated in foreign trade. The Greeks introduced coins into commerce as a medium of exchange. The coinage debasement which affected silver led to the result that in commerce, which has to compute in stable units, the prestige of gold was increased. Gold was however minted as a commercial coin with a legalized value, especially in Prussia; but the attempt to give gold a different position in the monetary standard was unsuccessful. The history of the value relation between the different metals shows a sharp contrast as between eastern Asia on the one hand and the western Asiatic and European conditions on the other.
