53° THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



It is interesting to observe that Spanish-Americans placed the ps 

 after the numerals, thus 65ps, while the English colonists, being accus- 

 tomed to write £ before the number of pounds, wrote the $ to the left 

 of the numerals, thus $ 65. In the Argentine Republic the $ is to 

 this day written to the right of the numerals, like this 65$. 



The earliest known occurrence of the $ in print is in an American 

 arithmetic, Chauncey Lee's " American Accomptant," published in 

 1797 at Lansingburgh. This fact was pointed out in 1899. 23 A 

 recent writer 24 again calls attention to this arithmetic and then, with 

 sweet simplicity of mind, conveys the idea that this publication con- 

 stitutes the true origin of the dollar mark. By this mental short cut 

 he saved himself the drudgery of a research which, in our case, has 

 extended over several years. After 1800 the symbol began to be used 

 freely, both in print and in writing. On September 29, 1802, William 

 A. Washington wrote a letter on the disposal of part of the bottom 

 land above the Potomac, belonging to the estate of George Washington. 

 In this letter there is mention of "$20," "$30 " and " $40 " per acre. 25 



In this article it has been established that the $ is the lineal 

 descendent of the Spanish abbreviation p s for " pesos," that the change 

 from the florescent p s to $ was made about 1775 by English-Americans 

 who came in business relations with Spanish-Americans, and that the 

 earliest printed $ dates back to the year 1797. 



23 "Report of the Commissioner of Education," 1897-98, p. 811. 



24 Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 62, 1908, p. 857. 



25 Letter in Harper Memorial Library, University of Chicago. 



