DECIMAL COINAGE. 255 



few words, were the substance of the decisions of Par- 1856. 

 liament. 



The energetic promoters of what would have been 

 both morally and socially a most useful measure were 

 naturally disappointed. Their efforts did not entirely 

 cease at the time, and Mr. William Brown, Mr. De 

 Morgan, and others, still did their utmost to keep the public 

 interest alive on the whole question. Mr. Brown, whose 

 philanthropy showed itself in many ways, died in 1864. 

 Of him my husband says, 



' The agitation for a decimal coinage was put to rest 

 by the illness and retirement of Sir Wm. Brown, whose 

 recent death has revived the memory of his splendid 

 benefaction (a fine library) to the town of Liverpool. A 

 parliamentary leader of weight and energy is absolutely 

 necessary to the success of any public measure ; and as 

 soon as the man shall be found who combines with 

 William Brown's great energy his interest in the subject, 

 the agitation will be revived. All the work that has been 

 done is good material for a new attempt, and a new 

 beginning will be made under great advantages. All the 

 discussion about the metrical system works to the same 

 end. We may be well assured that our system of calcula- 

 tion will not always be cramped by counting in one way 

 and measuring in another. And our firm belief is that 

 the way to work the change will be by beginning with 

 the coinage, in which decimals are most wanted and 

 most easily obtained.' * 



We have now to help us in this work the aid of the 

 Board schools. There is no reason why the strong efforts 

 of the Decimal Association should be lost ; and in the hope 

 that the revival to which my husband looked forward 

 may not be far off, I have given this history. All his 

 writings on the subject are instructive, and the series of 

 articles in the Penny Cyclopaedia on Weights, Measures, 



1 Athenasum, review of ' Battle of the Standards,' April 9, 1864. 



