CHAP. XXIII. WEAR OF COIN. 173 



ought to have contracted more than thirteen grains 

 of it on the hundred instead of two, as they ap- 

 pear to have done. If judgment be formed froirT 

 this criterion, the result would be that the pieces 

 coined in 1821 had been issued before those of 

 the prior date, or that they had been despatched 

 to some distant part of the kingdom, and, after 

 passing through a few hands, had at length come 

 back again to the bank from whence they had 

 been issued. 



The time when the new coinage was manu- 

 factured followed a period of great inactivity at 

 the mint. The officers of that department had 

 enjoyed leisure and opportunity for exercising 

 those talents for which they are eminently distin- 

 guished in investigations and experiments to im- 

 prove the fabrication of money. Whatever the 

 mechanical or chemical sciences could contribute 

 to that object was examined, and if found appro- 

 priate, was adopted. The best alloys were ascer- 

 tained by which the money should be made most 

 durable, and yet not brittle. The form of the 

 coins was* changed so as to render them less sub- 

 ject to loss by abrasion, and other improvements 

 were introduced, which, not falling immediately 

 under the design of this inquiry, need not here be 

 entered into, though they are of great advantage 

 to the public, and reflect high honour on the 

 eminent persons attached to that establishment. 



It must, from the observations before made, be 



