246 American Association. 



though well kuowu facte, bearing on Ethnology and Natural 

 History, of which the following may serve as specimens : 



"He began by stating that about 1900 years ago, or about 52 

 years before the Christian Era, Julius Csesar had described the 

 inhabitants of Great Britain and Gaul, as making use of brass and 

 iron rings by weight for money. Gold ring money of the Celts 

 was also annually dug up in Ireland, and similar money was em- 

 ployed by the Scandinavians, on the shores of the Baltic. They 

 were multiples of one certain ounce or integers of its ]oroportions ; 

 the word for ounce being claimed as a purely Celtic one. Re- 

 cently an ambassador wrote from Antwerp that he had purchased 

 a gold chain of Rubens with the links stamped by the goldsmiths 

 of the day to mark their weight and fineness. In South Africa, 

 at the present day, there Avas a similar employment of metal rings. 

 And a civilized country of antiquity, as appeared from paintings 

 still remaining on walls, employed rings which were carried for 

 cash to Ethiopia. Another nation had pieces of coin stamped 

 with the likenesses of idols for the same purpose. The old pound 

 of tbe Ano-lo-Saxons was called Eastcrling, from that came the 

 modern sterling. In France there was a pound called the 

 pound of Rochelle, and the Germans named it the pound of 

 Cologne. A new system by which the pound of silver in tale 

 was also made the pound in gross was arranged by Charle- 

 magne, in the eighth century. In England, under William the 

 Conqueror, it was decreed that weights, <fec., should remain as 

 they had been under his predecessors. In 1266, by consent of 

 the whole Realm, it Avas determined that the silver penny, called 

 esterling, should be round, and should be of the weight of 32 

 grains of Avheat taken from the middle of the ear. Twenty of these 

 penny weights were to make an ounce, 12 ounces one pound ; 8 

 lbs. of silver a gallon of wine ; and 8 gallons of wine a bushel, the 

 eighth part of a quarter. Troy y/eight is supposed to have been 

 derived from the Eastern nations, and transmitted first to Troyes, 

 in France, from Cairo, during the crusades. From Troyes it was 

 carried into England by the Goldsmiths, and found favor there 

 under Henry 8th, who began to debase the standard fineness of 

 silver coins, and to reduce their weight. Before this, a statute 

 established a common standard by which sliver and wheat were 

 assmned to be the natural tests, the one of the other. Unfortu- 

 nately, neither Avas exactly suited for the purpose. It had been 

 found by experiment with Avhite and red wheat from North Ca- 



