584 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was nothing left for the people to do but to go back to barter, and 

 this they did more than once. They cannot be said now to have a 

 coinage ; 2,900 years ago they made round coins with a square hole 

 in the middle, and they have made no advance beyond that since. 

 The well-known cash is a cast-brass coin of that description, and, al- 

 though it is valued at about one mill and a half of our money, and 

 has to be strung in lots of 1,000 to be computed with any ease, it is 

 the sole measure of value and legal tender of the country. Spanish, 

 Mexican, and our new trade-dollars, are employed in China ; they 

 pass because they are necessary for larger operations, and because 

 faith in their standard value has become established ; but they are 

 current simply as stamped ingots, with their weight and fineness in- 

 dicated. 



The coinage of England, although it has suffered less than that of 

 any of the older countries, has still undergone great debasement, 

 which has begotten misery and trouble enough to make her experience 

 of great value. At the time of the Norman Conquest the silver or 

 money pound weighed 12 ounces, the system of coinage being the same 

 as that of Charlemagne, and it was continued untouched until the year 

 1300, when the standard was tampered with by Edward I. By in- 

 creasing the number of shillings made from a pound, he set a perni- 

 cious example which was followed only too well, so that in the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth 58 shillings instead of 20 shillings were coined out 

 of the pound weight of silver. Up to the reign of Henry VIII., al- 

 though the weight was decreased, the sterling fineness of coins was 

 not debased; but that eminent head of the Church, after dissipating 

 the immense wealth which he received from his father, resorted to the 

 most disgraceful means to supply his riot and extravagance. He so 

 adulterated and degraded the silver coinage that the pound sterling 

 contained but four ounces of silver, 2 8s. of it being equivalent to the 

 pound sterling of 500 years before. Under the reigns of his children, 

 Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, the fineness of the coin was grad- 

 ually restored, and its degradation arrested, so that it was the boast 

 of Elizabeth that she " had conquered now that monster which so 

 long had devoured her people." The coinage of England has had 

 nothing further to endure at the hands of her princes. 



The reign of James II., bad enough in all ways, was in no instance 

 more disgraceful than the state to which he brought the coinage of 

 Ireland during his brief kingship there. His coins of gun-metal, cop- 

 per, brass, pewter, the sorriest tokens, were made unlimited tender, 

 and forced into circulation by every device. His loyal Irish subjects 

 were the sufferers from this swindle, for they had in their possession 

 nearly the whole of his worthless money. As he was compelled to 

 abandon England before his necessities became very great, her money 

 escaped violation. 



Of course, all this tampering with money has been accompanied 



