vii.] TO THE INSTITUTE OF BANKERS. 193 



doubtless come frequently before us. Unfortunately, 

 when I endeavoured to compress the subject within 

 reasonable limits, I found I could do no more than 

 attempt a very slight and imperfect sketch. 



As in so many other matters, the most ancient records 

 of money carry us away to the other side of the world 

 to the great empire of China. The early history of 

 Chinese currency is principally known to us through a 

 treatise, Wen-hien t'ung K'ao ; or, The Examination of 

 Currency, by Ma-twan-lin, a great Chinese scholar, who 

 was born about 1245, though his work was not published 

 until 1321. In uncivilized times various objects have 

 served as a standard of value. In the Hudson's Bay 

 territory beavers' skins have long been used in this 

 manner. In ancient Europe cattle were the usual 

 medium of exchange, whence, as every one knows, the 

 word pecunia. In the Zendavesta the payment of 

 physicians is calculated in the same way, but compara- 

 tively few perhaps realize that when we pay our fee we 

 are doing the same thing, for the word fee is the old 

 word vieh, which, as we know, in German still retains 

 the sense of cattle. In Africa and the East Indies 

 shells are, and long have been, used for the same pur- 

 pose. We even find indications that shells once served 

 as money in China, because as M. Biot, in his interesting 

 memoir on Chinese currency, has pointed out, the words 

 denoting buying, selling, riches, goods, stores, property, 

 prices, cheap, dear, and many others referring to money 

 and wealth, contain the ideographic sign denoting the 

 word shell. Indeed, Wangmang, who usurped the 

 Imperial throne about 14 A.D., wishing to return to the 

 ancient state of things, attempted, among other changes, 



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