INT 
tances from the centre of the radiating 
quality. 
INTERCALARY, in chronology, an ap- 
pellation given to the odd day inserted in 
leap-year ; which was so called from calo, 
calare, to proclaim, it being proclaimed by 
the priests with aloud voice. See Bissex- 
tile. 
INTERCEPTED axis, in conic sections, 
the same with abscisse. See Abscisse. 
INTERDICT, an ecclesiastical censure, 
by which the Church of Rome forbids the 
performance of divine service in a kingdom, 
province, town, &c. This censure lias been 
frequently executed in France, Italy, and 
Germany; and in the year 1170, Pope 
Alexander III. put all England under an 
interdict, forbidding the clergy to perform 
any part of divine service, except baptizing 
of infants, taking confessions, and giving 
absolution to dying penitents. But this 
censure being liable to the ill consequences 
of promoting libertinism and a neglect of 
religion, the succeeding popes have very 
seldom made use of it. 
INTEREST, an allowance or compensa- 
tion for the loan or use of a sum of money 
for a certain time, according to a fixed rate 
or proportion. The rate of interest varies 
in different countries, and at different times, 
according to the scarcity or plenty of mo- 
ney, and the security of lending ; in most 
commercial states it has been thought ne- 
cessary to establish by law a fixed rate of 
interest for the use of money : this restric- 
tion, however, must nearly correspond with 
the current rate of interest, that is, the rate 
at which money can be readily borrowed on 
good security ; for if it be attempted to re- 
duce by law the common rate of interest be- 
low the lowest ordinary market rate, the re- 
striction will be generally evaded, as under all 
such attemptsit has hitherto invariably been. 
By 37th Henry VIII. cap. 9, all interest 
above 10 per cent, was declared unlawful : 
before that time higher rates had usually 
been taken. In the reign of Edward VI. 
religious zeal prohibited all interest for mo- 
ney ; but the prohibition, like all others of the 
same kind, is said to have produced no ef- 
fect, and probably rather increased than 
diminished the evil of usury. The statute 
of Henry VIII. was revived by the 13th 
Elizabeth, cap. 8, and 10 per cent, continu- 
ed to be the legal rate of interest till the 
21st of James I. when it was restricted to 
8 per cent. In 1651, the rate of interest in 
several other countries bping lower than in 
England, the parliament reduced the legal 
INT 
rate to 6 per cent, which soon after the re- 
storation was confirmed by 12th Charles II. 
c. 13. The last act of parliament for regu- 
lating the interest of money was 12th Anne, 
st. 2. c. 16, by which it was fixed at 5 per 
cent, per annum. These different statu tary 
regulations seem to have been made with 
great propriety, as they followed the mar- 
ket rate of interest ; and since the time of 
Queen Anne, 5 per cent, appears to have 
been rather above than below the market 
rate. Before the American war, govern- 
ment borrowed at little more than 3 per 
cent. ; and about the year 1792 good bills 
were readily discounted at 4 per cent. 
The legal rate of interest in France was 
not always regulated by the market rate. 
In 1601 Henry IV. issued an edict for re- 
ducing the interest of money in that king- 
dom to 6i per cent. ; but the current rate 
afterwards rose above this limit. In 1720 
interest was reduced from the twentieth to 
the fiftieth penny, or from 5 to 2 per cent. 
In 1724 it was raised to the thirtieth penny, 
jor to 3] per cent. In 1725 it was again 
raised to the twentieth penny, or to 5 per 
cent. In 1766 it was reduced to the twenty- 
fifth penny, or to 4 per cent ; but a few 
years after it was raised again to the old 
rate of 5 per cent. The supposed purpose 
of many of these violent reductions of in- 
terest was to prepare the way for reducing 
that of the public debts ; a measure which, 
when it is not justified by a previous fall in 
the current rate of interest is nothing better 
than defrauding the public creditors. 
In Holland, previously to the revolution, 
the government frequently borrowed at 2 
per cent., and private persons of good 
credit at 3 per cent. This lowness of in- 
terest induced many of the Dutch to invest 
their property in the French and English 
funds. In the United States of America 
the lawful rate of interest is 6 per cent, in 
most of the states; in a few it is 7 per cent. ; 
and in one it is only 5 per cent. In Greece 
the mean rate of interest is 20 per cent, 
and in the other .parts of Turkey nearly 
the same ; in Persia 25 per cent. ; and in 
the Mogul empire 30 per cent. In Bengal 
and the other British possessions in India, 
the interest is generally from 8 to 12 per 
cent, on government security, but individu- 
als are frequently obliged to pay a much 
higher rate. In these countries there is no 
fixed rate of interest, and the usual high 
rate arises chiefly from the insecurity of 
lending. 
Interest is generally payable yearly, half- 
R r 9 
