There is on question but that Newton
was a highly competent Minister of Mint. It was mainly through his efforts
(1) the English currency was put on the satisfactory basis
at a difficult time. (2) discovered a relationship between
prices and the amount of money in circulation, which (3)
later formalized in the so-called "quality (4) of money: if
the amount of currency in circulaton is doubled--other things (5)
the same--then prices also will approximately double. This is a
simple application (6) 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
(7) the Polish government on currency questions and in doing so
discovered another important (8) (usually known as
Gresham’s Law): when bad money is accepted as legal tender, (9)
money will be driven out of (10) . Copernicus
anticipated Gresham in the formation of this
law.