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The frequency, regularity, and amount of his repayments, would

sufficiently demonstrate that the amount of their advances had at

no time exceeded that part of his capital which he would

otherwise have been obliged to keep by him unemployed, and in

ready money, for answering occasional demands; that is, for the

purpose of keeping the rest of his capital in constant

employment. It is this part of his capital only which, within

moderate periods of time, is continually returning to every

dealer in the shape of money, whether paper or coin, and

continually going from him in the same shape. If the advances of

the bank had commonly exceeded this part of his capital, the

ordinary amount of his repayments could not, within moderate

periods of time, have equalled the ordinary amount of its

advances.