I should like to dedicate this essay to the memory of Charles Rist. I. Introduction and basic contentions, 329. — II. Defectiveness of the usual statistics; deposits of joint-stock banks and private banks; the Economist's estimates; current accounts and fixed deposits, 332. — III. Growth of deposits in the long run and the short run, 345. — IV. Old and new explanations of the great depression (1873–1895), 348. — V. Gold, credit and prices in the United Kingdom, 354.