522 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



statements suffice for some minds. However, knowing that traditional 

 theories are dear to the heart of man, an additional coup de grace will 

 not be superfluous. The earliest high official of the United States 

 government to use the dollar mark was Robert Morris, the great finan- 

 cier of the Revolution. Letters in his own handwriting, as well as 

 those penned by his secretary, which we have seen, 2 give the dollar 

 mark with only one downward stroke, thus $. To assume that the 

 symbol is made up of the letters U and S is to assert that Robert 

 Morris and his secretary did not know what the real dollar symbol 

 was; the letter U would demand two downward strokes, connected 

 below. As a matter of fact the "US theory " has seldom been 

 entertained seriously. Perhaps in derision of this fanciful view, 

 another writer declares " surely the stars and stripes is the obvious 

 explanation." 3 



Minds influenced less by patriotic motives than by ecclesiastical and 

 antiquarian predilections have contributed other explanations of our 

 puzzle. Thus the monogrammatic form of I H S (often erroneously 

 interpreted as Jesus, Hominum Salvator) has been suggested. 4 The 

 combination of H S or of I I S, which were abbreviations used by the 

 Romans for a coin called sestertius, have been advocated. 5 We should 

 expect the supporters of these hypotheses to endeavor to establish an 

 unbroken line of descent from symbols used at the time of Nero to the 

 symbols used in the time of Washington. But sober genealogical 

 inquiries of this sort were never made or, if made, they brought dis- 

 aster to the hypotheses. 



An interesting hypothesis is advanced by the noted historian, T. F. 

 Medina, of Santiago de Chile. He suggests that perhaps the dollar 

 mark was derived from the stamp of the mint of Potosi in Bolivia. 

 This stamp was the monogrammatic p and s. Against the validity of 

 this explanation goes the fact that forms of p and s were used as abbre- 

 viations of the " peso " before the time of the establishment of the 

 mint at Potosi. 



All the flights of fancy were eclipsed by those who carried the $ 

 back to the " Pillars of Hercules." These pillars were strikingly 

 impressed upon the " pillar dollar," the Spanish silver coin widely 

 used in the Spanish-American colonies of the seventeenth and eight- 

 eenth centuries. 6 The " Pillars of Hercules " was the ancient name 

 of the opposite promontories at the Straits of Gibraltar. The Mexican 



2 Letter of 1 792 in Harper Memorial Library, University of Chicago ; Robt. 

 Morris's Private Letter Book in MSS. Div. of Library of Congress. 



3 Notes and Queries, 5th S., Vol. 6, p. 434. 



4 "Standard Dictionary," Art. "Dollar." 



5 M. Tbwnsend, "United States, an Index, etc.," Boston, 1890, p. 420. 

 "Notes and Queries (London), 5th S., Vol. 7, 1877, February 24; "New 

 American Cyclopaedia," Vol. VI., 1859, Art. "Dollar." 



