246 TKANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



present day, that are so designated. In large quantities they were 

 sold by weight as they now are. I know whereof I speak, for I 

 have been among nails in England and America all my life. And 

 now a word or two about cut nails, may, perhaps, not be out of 

 order. About the year 1808, I used to go past a factory with 

 mysteriously shaded windows. In my boyish curiosity I discov- 

 ered that cut finishing brads and tacks were made there. The 

 brads differed but little from the finishing nails now in use, and 

 the tacks were precisely of the same kind that are now universal. 

 They must have been made by a very cheap and summary process, 

 for they were then sold as low as fourpence sterling per bona fide 

 thousand for the small sizes, say three or four ounce tacks of the 

 present time. I mention these sizes because they were such as 

 were used in my father's business. I knew the maker well; but 

 how long he had been in the business I cannot say. His name 

 was Enoch Dickinson; he was an old man when I was a little boy. 

 All attempts in England to manufacture cut nails have failed. 

 First, because the makers have tried to make them as much as 

 possible like the wrought nails. Secondly, English carpenters 

 will not use nails that will not clinch. Hence the abortive attempts 

 of English manufacturers to make cut nails." 



Mr. Geo. Taylor, Hammonton, N. J., who is also an Englishman, 

 says : "Nails in my memory in England, have been sold by the 

 tale or by thei 100 ; different nails had different names, as sixpenny 

 rose, sixpenny clouts, sixpenny town brads, sixpenny brads, six- 

 penny floor brads, sixpenny clasp and cut brads, and probably 

 others that I have forgotten, and this method is used to this day." 



Mr. Cato, Concord, N. H., says : "Each size received its name 

 from the price per 100. Those sold for three pence, English cur- 

 rency, per 100, were called threepenny nails, and so on." The 

 testimony of these last three witnesses is positive to the point, and 

 we think satisfactory. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The above evidence we think conclusive, 

 that the origin of the term penny as applied to nails is, as stated, 

 that they were made or sold at so much per hundred. 



Autumn Leaves. 



Miss A. M. Allen, Johnson, Vt., sends a collection of colored 

 forest leaves, to remind the members of the club how beautifully 

 nature provides ornaments for country houses. These leaves, 

 carefully selected and tastefully arranged, may be glued upon a 



