第855页 / 共2651页

That between the dealers and the consumers, on the contrary, as

it is generally carried on by retail, frequently requires but

very small ones, a shilling, or even a halfpenny, being often

sufficient. But small sums circulate much faster than large ones.

A shilling changes masters more frequently than a guinea, and a

halfpenny more frequently than a shilling. Though the annual

purchases of all the consumers, therefore, are at least equal in

value to those of all the dealers, they can generally be

transacted with a much smaller quantity of money; the same

pieces, by a more rapid circulation, serving as the instrument of

many more purchases of the one kind than of the other.