vii.] INSTITUTE OF BANKERS. 195 



both public and private, varied by occasional meritorious 

 but often unsuccessful efforts to restore the standard of 

 currency." Mr. Vissering gives us several interesting 

 illustrations of the financial discussions of the Chinese. 

 " As to the desire of your majesty," for instance, says 

 Lutui, " to cast money and to arrange the currency in 

 order to repair its present vicious state, it is just the 

 same as if you would rear a fish in a caldron of boiling 

 water, or roost a bird on a hot fire. Water and wood 

 are essential for the life of fish and birds. But in using 

 them in the wrong way you will surely cause the bird to 

 be scorched and the fish to be cooked to shreds." 



Not only did the Chinese possess coins at a very early 

 period, but they were also the inventors of bank notes. 

 Some writers regard bank notes as having originated 

 about 119 b.c, in the reign of the Emperor Ou-ti. At 

 this time the court was in want of money, and to raise 

 it Klaproth tells us that the prime minister hit upon the 

 following device : — When any princes or courtiers 

 entered the imperial presence, it was customary to cover 

 the face with a piece of skin. It was first decreed then, 

 that for this purpose the skin of certain white deer kept 

 in one of the royal parks should alone be permitted, and 

 then these pieces of skin were sold for a high price. 

 But although they appear to have passed from one noble 

 to another, they do not seem ever to have entered into 

 general circulation. It was therefore very different from 

 the Russian skin money. In this case, the notes were 

 " used instead of the skins from which they were cut, 

 the skins themselves being too bulky and heavy to be 

 constantly carried backward and forward. Only a little 

 piece was cut off to figure as a token of possession of 



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