Within a simple model Hamiltonian, both superconductivity and metallic ferr
omagnetism can be understood as arising fi om lowering of kinetic energy as
the ordered state develops, due to a reduction in the carriers effective m
ass, or equivalently, a bandwidth expansion. Experimental manifestation of
this physics has been detected in both high T-c superconductors and large m
agnetoresistance ferromagnets, as an anomalous transfer of spectral weight
in optical absorption from high to low frequencies as the ordered state dev
elops. It is proposed that this general principle is common to the essentia
l physics of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in nature, and hence that
these effects in optical properties, although often smaller in magnitude,
should exist in all superconductors and metallic ferromagnets.