April — sept. 1859.] in Ancient and Modern times. 89 



England had no copper coinage until James L I subjoin 

 Brande's Table. 



Denomina- 



pieces in 

 . Avoir 



Weight of 

 each piece. 



of one lb.j 



pieces in 

 ton. 



)f a ton. 1 



Tender. 



SI** 



a a fl 



Where 

 current. 



tion of coin. 



No. of 

 the lb 



In drs. 

 Avoir. 



In 



Troy 

 grs. 



Value 



6 



Value ( 



Legal 



°,2 3p 



lis* 



Fence. 

 Half-pence. 

 Farthings. 

 | do. 

 _i_ penny. 

 | farthing, 

 i do. 



24 

 48 

 96 

 192 

 240 



288 

 384 



10 66 

 5 33 

 266 

 1-33 

 1-06 



0 88 

 066 



291-66 

 14583 

 72-91 

 36-45 

 2916 

 24-30 

 18 22 



1 Two Shillings. | 



53,760 

 107,520 

 215,040 

 430,080 

 537,600 

 645,120 

 860,160 



£ 224 | 



m. 



6d. 

 6d. 



14 Nov. 1821 



and 

 30 Jan. 1826 



) UnitedKing- 

 > dom and Bri- 

 ) tish Colonies. 

 Ceylon. 



Ionian Islands. 



Malta. 

 Ceylon. 



The red sous of the French currency are copper, nearly pure. 

 I shall conclude the subject of" material" with a few words on 

 Aurichalchum — or more properly (Erichalchtjm. The word 

 is a remarkable example of the effect of sound in suggesting, first, 

 false etymology, and then false meaning. The barbarism of de- 

 riving the term from a combination of the Latin for gold with the 

 Greek for bronze is obvious enough ; but in spite of this the false 

 derivation has been very generally received, and with it the erro- 

 neous signification suggested by the spurious etymology. I have 

 stated that the ancients employed many different combinations of 

 metals — bronze being the fundamental constituent, in their works 

 of art. Aurichalchum has been supposed to have been one of 

 these into which gold entered in considerable amount. A com- 

 mentator on Ezra viii. 27 — " two vessels of fine copper precious as 

 gold" — falls into the mistake, and states that these vessels were 

 composed of " aurichalchum." That these were forms of bronze 

 in which gold was an important ingredient is likely enough ; but 

 that orichalchum was not one of them is quite clear from Pliny's 

 statement, that in his time the metal was not found, the mines 

 being exhausted. The true etymology is ovpos or opos, a mountain, 

 and the true meaning " mountain metal." The exact composition 

 is not known. 



I have introduced this metal for the sake of one coin. When 

 the Roman sestertius became equal to 4 ases, its material was 

 changed from ces to orichalchum. 



It is obviously necessary that a medium of exchange should 

 Vol. xx. o. s. Vol. vi. n. s. 



