There is on question but that Newton
was a highly competent Minister of Mint. It was mainly through his efforts
{{U}}(1) {{/U}} the English currency was put on the satisfactory basis
at a difficult time. {{U}}(2) {{/U}} discovered a relationship between
prices and the amount of money in circulation, which {{U}}(3) {{/U}}
later formalized in the so-called "quality {{U}}(4) {{/U}} of money: if
the amount of currency in circulaton is doubled--other things {{U}}(5)
{{/U}} the same--then prices also will approximately double. This is a
simple application {{U}}(6) {{/U}} the principle that it is impossible
to get something for nothing, but apparently it took someone like Newton
to discover it. There is an obvious comparison with Copernicus, who{{U}}
(7) {{/U}}the Polish government on currency questions and in doing so
discovered another important{{U}} (8) {{/U}}(usually known as
Gresham's Law): when bad money is accepted as legal tender, {{U}}(9)
{{/U}} money will be driven out of {{U}}(10) {{/U}}. Copernicus
anticipated Gresham in the formation of this
law.