210 THE EVOLUTION OF 



pot. By this process the colour, i. e. the outward appear- 

 ance of a piece of gold especially, but also of silver, is 

 ascertained by actual experiment, coupled with a know- 

 ledge of the comparative amount of ' pure ' metal and 

 of the usual alloys put into the pot. By rubbing the 

 specimens thus procured on black ' touchstone ' in streaks 

 side by side with specimens of pure gold or silver we 

 obtain the * touch,' i. e. the difference in colour between 

 specimens of the pure metal and the alloyed. The touch- 

 needles used by the Oriental jewellers in ascertaining 

 ' touch ' are but a set of graduated specimens of metal 

 tested for the alloy in each. 



When we have progressed as far as this, we have 

 secured possession of lumps of metal of a known weight 

 and a known fineness, and have made a distinct step 

 forwards, for we have arrived at a coin in its simplest 

 form. In many parts of the world, and in the East, 

 especially among the poorer classes, any piece of bullion 

 metal a term there extended to gold, silver, copper, tin, 

 brass, spelter, and even to lead and iron is still used 

 and passed from hand to hand as money without refer- 

 ence to any marks thereon, provided its weight and 

 fineness are known, or, what comes to the same thing, 

 are accepted. It is, in fact, for these people a coin. 

 In Burma, disks of silver, copper, and brass which have 

 come from the old native mints accidentally unstamped, 

 and in India brass English jettons or card counters with 

 legends thereon showing that they were not intended 

 for what we call money, have passed, and no doubt still 

 pass, with equal freedom as money, side by side with 

 coin of the realm for the value of the metal in them. 

 So have metal buttons and filed coins, and of course 

 obsolete coins of any kind and period. The magyizi or 

 silver imitations in Upper Burma of the tamarind seeds 



