526 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



closest commercial touch with the Spanish colonies. After the con- 

 quest of Mexico and Peru, early in the sixteenth century, Spanish- 

 American mints, established in the various points in the Spanish pos- 

 sessions, poured forth the Spanish dollar in such profusion that it 

 became a universal coin, reaching before the close of the century even 

 the Philippines and China. In the seventeenth century the Spanish 

 " piece of eight " was known in Virginia and much was done to pro- 

 mote the influx of Spanish money into that colony. The United States 

 dollar, adopted in 1785, was avowedly modelled on the average weight 

 of the Spanish dollar coins in circulation. Thomas Jefferson speaks 

 of the dollar as " a known coin, and the most familiar of all to the 

 minds of the people." 14 No United States dollars were actually coined 

 before the year 1794. 15 We proceed to unfold our data and to show 

 the evolution of the dollar mark by stages so easy and natural, that the 

 conclusion is irresistible. There are no important " missing links." 

 To enable the critical reader to verify our data, we give the sources of 

 our evidence. No man's ipse dixit is a law in the world of scientific 

 research. 



We begin with information extracted from early Spanish printed 

 books, consisting of abbreviations used for " peso " or " pesos." 



Ivan Vasquez de Serna, 16 1620, Pes., pes de 8 real. 



Francisco Cassany, 17 1763, p, also ps. 



Benito Bails, 18 1790, pe, seldom p. 



Manuel Antonio Valdes, 19 1808, ps. 



Here we have the printed abbreviations Pes., ps, pe, p. More inter- 

 esting and convincing are the abbreviations found in manuscripts 

 which record commercial transactions. We can give only a small part 

 of the number actually seen. In our selection we are not discrim- 

 inating against symbols which might suggest a conclusion different 

 from our own. As a matter of fact, such discrimination would be 

 difficult to make, for the reason that all the abbreviations for the 

 " peso," or " piece of eight " or " piastre " that we have examined point 

 unmistakably to only one conclusion. We say this after having seen 

 many hundreds of these symbols in manuscripts, antedating 1800, and 

 written in Mexico, the Philippines, San Felipe de puerto, New Orleans 



14 D. K. Watson, "History of American Coinage," 1899, p. 15. 



15 Gordon, "Congressional Currency," p. 118. 



18 Ivan Vasquez de Serna, "Reducciones de oro, " Cadiz, 1620, p. 263 ff. 

 (In the Hispanic Museum, New York City.) 



17 Don Fr. Cassany, "Arithmetica deseada, " Madrid, 1763. (In the Library 

 of Congress.) 



18 Don Benito Bails, " Arismetica," Madrid, 1790. (In Library of the 

 American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.) 



"Don M. A. Valdes, "Gazetas de Mexico," 1808. (In Newberry Library, 

 Chicago.) 



