The development of metalic money, and its culmination in the international gold standard, is one of mankind's great economic achievements. The destruction of all this in the twentieth century is one of history's great economic disasters. This course will discuss: the nature, history, and significance of metallic money; the development and workings of the international gold standard; the economics of Keynes and his attack on gold; and the source of some of Keynes' views in the ideas of Sigmund Freud.