TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 14S 



v. New Monetauy System proposed. 



10 farthings 1 cent. 



10 cents or 100 farthings 1 florin. 



10 florins, 100 cents, or 1000 farthings. . . 1 pound sterling. 



Setting aside all the new coins, proposed by him in his first publication of 1834, 

 except the tenth of the pound (since called the florin) and the silver cent, and setting 

 aside also his attempt to simplify the monetary system therein proposed, in the paper 

 read to the British Association at Oxford in 1847, which he admits was by no means 

 an improvement, the author now thinks, that the only new coin that ought to be 

 issued, is the silver cent, and that no silver coin greater than the florin should be 

 coined in future, gradually withdrawing all the crowns and half-crowns still in circu- 

 lation, as soon as florins to an equal amount can be issued from the Mint to replace 

 them. 



When any sum of money of the new coinage is written in sterling money, the last 

 figure or unit of the pound should always have a point after it, the three next figures 

 to which will designate florins, cents, and farthings, whether having these denomina- 

 tions written over them or not; but more than three such figures must never be used. 



He is also of the opinion, now adopted by the Council of the Decimal Association, 

 of which he is a member, that instead of coining new copper mils, or tithings as he 

 called them at first, it will be much better to declare by royal proclamation, that the 

 farthing shall be the tenth part of the cent, and the thousandth part of a pound, or to 

 make it so by Act of Parliament ; but it does not appear to him to be necessary to 

 withdraw any of the smaller silver coins, such as the threepenny and fourpenny 

 silver pieces, which, though not known when he first published, have been a very 

 great convenience to the public, and which none of the woi'king classes ever mistake 

 for one another, even in the dark, nor will they confound any of them with the new 

 silver cent proposed. 



The silver cent should be stamped with the words, one cent or ten farthings; 

 the present sixpenny pieces need not be called in ; but when more are required, let 

 them be stamped with the words one half shilling. In like manner, when more 

 fourpenny pieces are required, let them be stamped i of a shilling, and when more 

 threepenny pieces are required, let them be stamped i of a shilling. To add any- 

 thing more would be superfluous. 



The author then treats of the " difficulties urged as objections to the decimal coinage 

 proposed," points out the advantages of the new system proposed, and urges objec- 

 tions to the French metrical system. 



Aphoristic Notes on Sanitary Statistics of Workhouses and Charitable 

 Institutions. By M. Roth, M.D. 



1 . A number of adult disabled persons are kept year after year in workhouses ot 

 charitable institutions, and very little or nothing is done to improve or cure their 

 chronic ailments. 



2. A number of constitutionally weak infants and children are in the workhouse 

 who could be cured or considerably improved. 



3. The expenses of the parish and charitable institutions would be, in the course of 

 years, considerably diminished by a better state of health amongst the poorer classes. 



4. Jt is necessary to have detailed statistics of the sanitary condition of the work- 

 houses and charitable institutions, and, if possible, of those who receive permanent or 

 periodical outdoor relief; and, as such returns do not exist, 



5. I have proposed the following as a specimen of a sanitary statistic table, which, 

 by the kindness of a poor-law guardian, was returned with the numbers showing the 

 actual sanitary state of one of the metropolitan suburban workhouses. 



I have proposed the classification of ages in a different way ; but as all the inmates 

 of workhouses are divided according to the scale shown in the Table, the actual work- 

 house classification has been retained. 



