BOOKS. 
the ledger, by having their proper debtors 
and creditors ascertained and pointed out : 
whence it may be observed, that the great 
design of the journal is to prevent errors in 
the ledger : again, after the ledger is filled 
up, the journal facilitates the work required 
in revising and correcting it ; for first the 
waste-book and journal are compared, and 
then the journal and ledger; whereas to 
revise the ledger immediately from the 
waste-book, would be a matter' of no less 
difficulty, than to form it without the help 
of a journal : lastly, the journal is designed 
as a fair record of a merchant’s business ; 
for neither of the other two books can serve 
this purpose ; not the ledger, by reason of 
the order that obtains in it, and also on ac- 
count of its brevity, being little more than 
a large index : nor can the waste-book 
answer this design, as it can neither be fair 
nor uniform, nor very accurate, being com- 
monly written by different hands, and in 
time of business. Hence it is, that in case 
of differences between a merchant and 
his dealers, the journal is the book com- 
monly called for, and inspected by a civil 
judge. 
In the journal, persons and things are 
charged debtors to other persons and things 
as creditors ; and in this it agrees with the 
ledger, where the same style is used, but 
differs from it as to forms and order; so 
that it agrees with the waste-book in those 
very things where it differs from the ledger; 
and on the other hand it agrees w ith the lat- 
ter in the very point wherein it differs from 
the former. 
It ihay be observed, that every case or 
example of the waste-book, when entered 
into the journal, is called a journal post, or 
entrance ; thus the examples above make 
three direct posts. 
Accounts in the ledger consist of two 
parts, which in their own nature are directly 
opposed to, and the reverse of one another, 
and are therefore set fronting one another, 
and on opposite sides of the same folio. 
Thus all the articles of the money received, 
go to the left side of the cash account ; and 
all the articles or sums laid out are carried 
to the right. In like manner the purchase 
of goods is posted to the left side of the ac- 
counts of the said goods, and the sale or dis- 
posal of them to the right. 
Transactions of trade or cases of the 
waste-book, are also made up of two parts, 
which belong to different accounts, and to 
opposite sides of the ledger, e. g. If goods 
are bought for ready money, the two parts 
are the goods received, and the money deli- 
vered ; the former of which goes to the left 
side of the account of the said goods, and 
the latter to the right side of the cash ac- 
count. 
The two parts in any case in the waste- 
book, when posted to the journal, are deno- 
minated the one the debtor, the other the 
creditor of that post ; and when carried 
from thence to the ledger, the debtor, or 
debtor part, is entered upon the left side 
(hence called the debtor side) of its own 
account, where it is charged debtor to the 
creditor part : again, the creditor, or credi- 
tor paid, is posted to the right side, or cre- 
ditor side of its account, and made creditor 
by the debtor part. Hence Italian book- 
keeping is said to be a method of keeping 
accounts by double entry, because every 
single case of the waste-book requires at 
least two entrances in the ledger, viz. one 
for the debtor, and another for the credi- 
tor. 
From what has been said, it is evident that 
the terms debtor and creditor are nothing 
more than marks or characteristics stamp- 
ed upon the different parts of transactions 
in the journal, expressing the relation of 
these parts to one another, and shewing to 
which side of their' respective accounts in 
the ledger they are to be carried. 
Having thus far explained the meaning 
of the terms debtor and creditor, we shall 
now proceed to the ledger, or principal 
book of accounts. 
Of the ledger. The ledger is the principal 
book wherein all the several articles of each 
particular account, that lie scattered in 
other books, according to their dates, are 
collected, and placed together in spaces 
allotted for them, in such a manner, that the 
opposite parts of every account are directly 
set fronting one another, on opposite sides 
of the same folio. 
The ledger’s folios are divided into spaces 
for containing the accounts, on the head of 
which are written the titles of the accounts, 
marked Dr. on the left hand page, and Cr. 
on the right ; below which stand the articles* 
with the word To prefixed on the Dr. side, 
and the word By on the Cr. side ; and upon 
the margin are recorded the dates of the 
articles, in two small columns allotted for 
that purpose. The money columns arc the 
same as in other books: before them stand 
the folio column, which contains figures, di- 
recting to the foiio where the corresponding 
ledger-entrance of each article is made; for 
every thing is twice entered in the ledger^ 
