THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 63 



co-operation of punch-cutters, matrix-makers, mould-makers, casters, 

 breakers, rubbers, set'.ers-up, compositors, readers, press-men, en- 

 gravers, and engine turners, and it was beyond the reach of 

 probability that such a confederation of skilled malefactors could be 

 brought together for the consummation of a single fraud. The framers 

 of the report, however, little dreamt of what was to be done in the 

 future by photography and photogravure. The sheet-anchor of every 

 bank note is now in the paper. Should we be quite sure of our 

 anchorage in an ocean of new one pound notes ? 



It is only of late years that the fact has been ascertained that 

 banking was carried on in very early ages. Mr. Hilton. F. G. S. of 

 the Institute of Bankers, says that as far back as 2250 B. C, the 

 Chinese and Hindoos carried on operations equivalent to it ; and 

 Mr. George Smith of the British Musuem, the great Assyrian author- 

 ity, discovered tablets amongst the Assyrian marbles whose 

 translation showed cheques, receipts and other records of a great 

 firm of the name of Egibi, which flourished 507 B. C. A remarkable 

 fact in connection with these was that each bore the day of the 

 month, date and year of the monarch in whose reign the transactions 

 were made. Among the tablets was also a bank almanac of the 

 firm, containing the complete calendar of the Babylonian year. A 

 form of cheque called the attribute or prescriptum was known 

 amongst the Romans, but it is not recorded whether it was payable 

 only to bearer or to anyone else. Recent discoveries in Pompeii 

 have unearthed tablets used by a Roman banker, showing receipts 

 for payments, and the registration of payments made to the public 

 exchequer. No details, however, have been discovered, of any 

 transactions beyond daily use, and no records have yet come to 

 light, of promises to pay, or acceptances. 



Up to the year 1707, Scotch coins were quite distinct from 

 English, consisting of pistoles, marks, nobles, besides base money 

 of Atkinson's or Achison's (8d.) bawbees, placks, and boddles. 

 The Irish coins have always been made in England and sent thence 

 to Ireland, there being no mint in that country, but their value was 

 not as high, the shilling being only worth iid, and their pound 18 

 shillings and four pence halfpenny. In like manner, in the Channel 

 islands, the shilling is worth thirteen pence, and the pound 21s. 

 Many of us remember the Halifax currency here, before the decimal 

 currency was adopted, when i6s. sterling was called a pound. 



