592 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



he forbade any charge for exchanging the metals under the 

 same penalties enjoined by the law of November 14, 1652 con- 

 fiscation and loss of citizenship. It was in vain ; the distinction 

 between the coinages was too firmly established, and the tend- 

 ency was even to increase the premium on the precious metals. 

 In 1772 Charles III, in issuing a new gold coinage, prescribes that 

 the gold crown shall be worth 37-? velldn ryals, and as it was 

 equal only to 16 silver ryals, this shows a premium of over one 

 hundred per cent. 



The question of the premium on silver was further compli- 

 cated by tampering with the silver coinage. In 1726 it was ordered 

 that the peso or piece of eight should be counted for 9*5 ryals; 

 the small silver coins of two ryals and less were worked 77 ryals 

 to the marc, in place of the old weight of 67, and only 10 dineros 

 fine in place of 11, thus lowering them to twenty per cent below 

 the standard ; and in 1728 the fineness was further reduced to 9 

 dineros (22 grains), or 0798, increasing the deficiency to twenty- 

 five per cent. The mintage of the Indies, principally in the larger 

 pieces, was not reduced, and thus there came to be two kinds of 

 silver coinage, known as the nacional or heavier, and the provin- 

 cial or lighter. Between these there was a recognized difference 

 of twenty per cent, the real de plata nacional being worth 2'5 

 velldn ryals, or 20 quartos, while the real de plata provincial was 

 only worth 2 velldn ryals, or 16 quartos. There were thus three 

 established currencies of different values, two of silver and one of 

 copper, and for awhile there was a fourth, for we hear, in 1728, 

 of a new coinage popularly known as Marias, which is ordered to 

 be demonetized by July 1st next ensuing. The order, as usual, 

 was disregarded, for in 1736 it was repeated, with a prohibition to 

 draw bills of exchange in the forbidden currency. 



The depreciation of the ryal has survived, to modern times, 

 the revolution in the currency, which has become decimal, and is 

 modeled on that of France. The peseta is the equivalent of the 

 franc, worth approximately twenty cents in our money, and when 

 ryals are quoted they are a fourth of the peseta, or five cents, thus 

 being only two fifths of their nominal value in silver. Whether 

 the vellon ryal has ceased to be the standard money of account I 

 can not say, but I happen to have before me a draft drawn through 

 the Bank of Spain, December 17, 1858, in Madrid on Jaen for 

 " la suma de ires mil reales de velldn en plata u oro," showing 

 that accounts were still kept in vellon and that every transaction 

 involved a conversion of this into specie. 



There can be no exaggeration in attributing to these perpetual 

 fluctuations in the standard of value a leading part in the industrial 

 and commercial decadence of Spain. During the period we have 



