338 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI, 



only a small number of minerals the crystallographic characters 

 could be recognized by means of the polarising miscroscope and by 

 the application of re-agents, v. g. of silica, calcium carbonate, etc. 



Besides the bacteria above enumerated I could trace the presence of 

 some two or three others. But as they were only few in number, and 

 fresh and good food supply did not induce them to multiply, a definite 

 identification was, of course, beyond the bounds of possibility. 



That there may not arise any misapprehension in the reader's mind, 

 I must not omit saying that not all of the above mentioned forms of 

 organisms Were found on each and every coin, but that, on the con- 

 trary, there was amongst the examined pieces a pretty good number 

 which did not exhibit the actual presence of life at all. 



If we bear in mind, where nearly all of those micro-organisms usually 

 or, to use a more correct expression, exclusively occur, we cannot help 

 confessing, that they are associated with the presence of decaying mat- 

 ter. And again if we consider, through what hands and pockets a coin 

 may travel in the course of one single day, We shall not have the least 

 difficulty in understanding how the fauna and flora of our money came 

 into existence. 



When I had already finished this paper my attention was drawn upon 

 two letters addressed to the Editor of the Times of India. On the 10th 

 February 1905 the Baroda correspondent, Dr. R. V. Dhurandhar, writes 

 the following lines : — 



" Will not the Government of India think twice before extinguishing 

 copper coins and substituting bronze and nickel ones in their place, in 

 the face of modern research in that direction ? The Health Board of 

 New York some time back undertook an investigation to ascertain how 

 far gold, silver, copper, and paper currencies assist in the transmission 

 of disease germs from place to place, and they found on miscroscopio 

 examination that, while other currencies swarmed with germs, none 

 were found on copper coins." 



Further on he adds: " Bronze though coppery, contains tin, and 

 sometimes lead and zinc, and, therefore, is not as good a germicide as 

 pure copper." 



The second letter (llth February 1905), written by Mr. S. G. 

 D'Souza, contains these remarks: " In common with Mr. Dhurandhar 

 I quite agree that copper, far from transmitting disease germs, is a most 

 potent agent of prevention of the same. — In those days when cholera 



